life aboard a sailboat

Life on a Sailboat: Everything You Need to Know About Living on a Sailboat Full-Time

Living on a sailboat full-time is often romanticized as a life of endless sunsets, gentle waves, and freedom on the open sea. Many dream of casting off the lines and setting sail for a horizon of adventure and tranquility. However, the reality of life aboard a sailboat can be as challenging as it is rewarding, as frustrating as it is relaxing, and, more often than not, as mundane as it is exciting.

This blog post aims to peel back the curtain on the picturesque scenes to reveal what daily life is really like when you call a sailboat home. We will dive into the motivations, preparations, joys, and challenges of living on a sailboat full-time, providing a realistic glimpse into a lifestyle that is far from ordinary.

Our Live-Aboard Life

Our dream of living on a sailboat was a distant one for many years. But as we watched plans and dreams fall by the wayside in the wake of COVID, we made the decision to make our dream a reality. Once the borders opened up, we made a beeline for the Mediterranean and have since spent each summer living aboard our little 29-foot sailboat Whisper. Without any experience sailing or living on a sailboat, we have taught ourselves to sail and manage life on the boat along the way.

Before we took up sail life, we had been living “van life,” and we’ve come to realize there are lots of similarities but quite a few differences between the two . However, on the whole, learning to live van life first put us in good stead to take on life on a sailboat. Unlike most people, we up-sized when we moved onto a boat.

Despite the upgrade in living quarters, the learning curve and the adjustment to living on the sea were no less challenging. Nevertheless, the shift was not as scary as we thought it might be, and the reality of living on a sailboat full-time quickly became our new normal.

Initially, our plan was to buy a boat and spend one season aboard sailing the Mediterranean before selling the boat and settling down. Instead, it’s safe to say we have fallen in love with life on a sailboat. Now, as we enter our third season, we aren’t sure when we will be ready to furl the sails for good…

Get a Taste of Life on a SailBoat

We document some of the realities of living on a sailboat full-time on our YouTube Channel in our The Vanabond Sails series.

Deciding to Live on a Sailboat

The journey to becoming a full-time live aboard often starts with the desire for change.

Some people are transitioning from one stage of life to the next as careers wind up or children move out. Some yearn for adventure and excitement, while others seek a simpler way of life. Many are drawn to the promise of freedom, the allure of the sea, and the appeal of living more closely with nature. However, the decision to live on a sailboat full-time is not one to be taken lightly. It requires thoughtful consideration and planning.

For us, it was a long-held dream to sail and live aboard a sailboat. It was also a natural progression, having spent several years living and traveling by van . We were ready for a new challenge. 

It began with a conversation, then a plan, and then trawling classifieds for second-hand boat sales. Before long, the decision was set in stone, and we were on our way to Croatia to buy a boat , learn to sail it, and move aboard. 

Choosing the Right Sailboat

The type of sailboat you choose is critical and depends on your budget, sailing skills, and the kind of sailing you plan to do (coastal cruising, bluewater voyaging, etc.).

Will you prefer the size and stability of a catamaran, or will you prioritize the sailing experience of a monohull? Are you looking for something small that’s easily controlled and maneuvered by a limited (and potentially inexperienced) crew, or do you require the space of a larger vessel? Are you interested in the clean lines and comforts of modern boat designs, or do you prefer the style of older boats? There are a thousand decisions to be made when choosing a boat, and your own aspirations for boat life and, of course, your budget will be critical when it comes to making this decision. 

Spend as much time researching boats that are available in your price range, ask questions of sailors you know or on sailing forums, and, if possible, spend time aboard different types of sailboats to get a clearer picture of what life is really like on board before making a purchase.

Check out our full article on buying boat .

Emotional and Practical Considerations for Sail Life

Living on a sailboat means embracing minimalism and being comfortable with the idea of having less space and possessions.

You’ll need to consider the impact of such a lifestyle on relationships with family and friends, as it can mean spending long periods away from loved ones.

The decision also involves considering how to manage work or income while living at sea , which might include remote work, seasonal jobs, or living off savings.

There are plenty of options for those planning on working remotely while sailing. With the rise of remote work , there has never been more opportunity to work and sail.

All of these considerations represent potential challenges to adjusting to life at sea, but they are certainly not insurmountable. You just need to be honest with yourself and decide if your love of the open water and the freedom of living aboard a sailboat will be greater than the inconveniences.

Preparations and Adjustments

Transitioning to life on a sailboat involves a series of preparations and adjustments, both practical and psychological, to ensure a smooth and sustainable living experience.

Training and Skills

If you are thinking about taking up sailing, you should, of course, invest time in learning to sail, navigate, and understand weather patterns. While this may seem like a daunting task, it’s not an insurmountable one. Time on the water is the most important thing, so it’s time to sign up for sailing courses, start planning trips with sailing friends, join a local sailing club, or seek out opportunities to crew for other sailors.

Learning basic boat maintenance and repair is essential to manage the myriad challenges that come with life at sea.

Safety courses, such as first aid, sea survival, and radio operation, are also crucial for handling emergencies.

These skills are important for safe and comfortable sailing and are often legally required. Make sure you are aware of the licensing and registration requirements for sailors in the region you are preparing to sail.

In our case, I had experience sailing small dinghies as a child and thus some understanding of the fundamentals, while Kelli had zero experience. My existing marine license issued in Australia was recognized in Croatia, where we bought our boat. I only needed to acquire a VHF radio license to become adequately certified for inshore sailing in the Mediterranean. 

We paid some local sailors to come aboard and teach us both the fundamentals of our new boat (lots of docking and anchoring practice).

Downsizing and Adapting to Limited Space and Resources

As mentioned, moving onto a boat was actually upsizing for us. With a second cabin, a flushing toilet, and a large indoor table, our relatively small 29-foot monohull seemed luxurious compared to the vans we had been living in until this point. 

However, for most, moving onto a sailboat often means significant downsizing, and space becomes a premium commodity. The process of downsizing for sail life involves prioritizing essential items and learning to live without the comforts of a traditional home.

Space isn’t the only limitation on a boat. Reliance on water tanks (if you don’t have a watermaker) and solar, wind, or generator electricity often means a downshift in access to creature comforts we take for granted in a house on the grid.

Creativity in organizing and making the most of limited space and resources becomes a daily practice, requiring innovative storage solutions and multi-functional furniture. Most modern sailboats are well-designed with endless space-saving measures and designs. Nevertheless, an adjustment will likely be necessary.

Financial Planning

Financial considerations are paramount, as the cost of living on a sailboat can vary widely depending on factors like marina fees, maintenance costs, and lifestyle choices.

Setting a realistic budget that includes regular maintenance, unexpected repairs, and living expenses is essential for sustaining life at sea.

Depending on your personal aspirations for boat life, this lifestyle can be as affordable or as expensive as you want to be. For us, as a couple in our thirties still in the building and saving part of our lives and careers, we are able to live on a boat in the Mediterranean affordably and comfortably for far less than we (estimate) we would spend living a more stationary lifestyle.

Check out our full article on the Costs of Living on Sail Boat Full-Time

Overall, adjusting to the confines and challenges of sailboat living demands not only physical preparation but also mental resilience and adaptability. The transition from land to sea is a profound shift, requiring a willingness to embrace simplicity, flexibility, and a sense of adventure.

Daily Life Aboard

While there is no typical day aboard, and experiences will differ wildly from person to person and day to day, we can describe what many of our days do look like.

As we work from the boat, our weeks are generally divided into work days, Monday to Friday morning and weekends. The truth is that the novelty does wear off, and many days, especially during the working week, become just as mundane as any other lifestyle. However it never stays mundane for long, one exhilarating sail, a dolphin sighting, a picture perfect anchorage or even surviving an impromptu weather event and the thrill of living on a sailboat quickly returns.

A typical workday for us living on a sailboat often starts with the sunrise (or a little bit before if we have a lot on). Ideally, we are well rested after a still night without rolling swell or, worse, strong wind, but that isn’t always assured at sea. Mornings involve checking the weather first and foremost, all plans revolve around the direction and strength of the wind and waves. 

If the weather is calm, we usually try to work in the mornings when we are fresh and focused.

We travel slowly, often spending a few days in a quiet, well-protected anchorage, on a town quay, or in a marina before moving on a short distance along the coast. On sailing days, we often sail in the afternoon when the winds are a bit stronger in the Mediterranean. On days we are staying put, the afternoon might be spent exploring a new town, getting provisions, swimming, or finding a beach to lie on and read a book. In the evening, we will cook dinner onboard and get some more work done or watch some TV. 

Weekends look different, and we will take advantage of not needing to be close to reliable network services, completing longer passages along the coast, or visiting islands. 

Daily Differences in Sail Life

Living spaces on a sailboat are compact and multifunctional, necessitating an organized and tidy approach to prevent clutter and ensure safety. Cooking in a small galley kitchen presents its challenges, from securing pots and pans on a constantly moving boat to managing limited ingredients and storage.

Meals often need to be simple yet nutritious, requiring creativity and planning. Our approach is to cook simple, one-pot, vegetarian meals like dal or vegetable curry two or three times during the workweek and eat leftovers for lunch and dinner. On the weekend, we like to get more creative with our meals, seeking out local produce or fresh seafood and taking our time to prepare something special.

As mentioned, resource management is a critical aspect of daily sailboat life, especially when it comes to conserving water, fuel, and electricity. Efficient use of these resources is vital, whether it involves careful water usage, monitoring power consumption, or planning the next opportunity to resupply. For us, an electricity supply is mainly dependent on the sun when we are not under motor or plugged into shore power. Extended periods of cloud can alter our plans. Similarly, if we are not careful with water, more frequent visits to refill are required, which can be limiting. 

Personal hygiene and privacy take on a new meaning in the confined space of a sailboat. Showers may be quick and infrequent. In our case, we generally rinse off after a swim to bathe and take proper showers during marina stops. Personal space is limited on a sailboat and managing personal relationships can have extra challenges.

Sleeping on the boat can take some getting used to, especially when on anchor. Even on a calm day, the constant rocking of the water can be disruptive at first, and novice sailors may find they get seasick, although these symptoms usually go away after a few days. When it’s windy, or there is some swell, the noise, movement, and the ever-present worry that the boat may pull off its anchor with the movement can make it very difficult to get a good night’s sleep. 

Unforecast storms, gear failure, or some other emergency can occasionally create scary and challenging scenarios, especially if disaster strikes late at night. These situations are part of the adventure but can certainly be stressful.

Despite the challenges, daily life on a sailboat is interspersed with moments of profound beauty and peace. Whether watching dolphins play in the bow wave, enjoying a sunset over the ocean, or stargazing on a clear night, these experiences often make the hardships worthwhile, offering a sense of freedom and connection to nature that is hard to find elsewhere.

The Pros and Cons of Living on a Sailboat Full-Time

Pros: the joys of sailboat living.

Living on a sailboat brings a unique set of joys and rewards that can make the challenges seem insignificant.

+ One of the most significant benefits is the sense of freedom and adventure. Sailboat dwellers have the luxury of exploring new destinations, anchoring in secluded bays, and experiencing different cultures in a way that most people never will. The ability to call a variety of picturesque locations home, even if only temporarily, is a remarkable aspect of this lifestyle. Even compared to other forms of nomadic lifestyle, waking up in your own private bay or cove is hard to re-create. 

+ The connection with nature is unparalleled in sailboat living. Being surrounded by the vastness of the ocean, witnessing marine life up close, and experiencing the rhythms of the sea create a deep sense of harmony and peace. The simplicity of life on a boat can lead to a greater appreciation for the small things, like the beauty of a sunset, the changing colors of the sea, or the silence of a night watch under the stars.

+ Community and camaraderie are also central to the sailboat lifestyle. The sailing community is known for its close-knit, supportive nature, with fellow sailors often ready to lend a hand, share advice, or offer companionship. This sense of community extends across harbors and anchorages around the world, creating a global network of friends and contacts.

+ The personal growth and self-reliance developed through sailboat living are profound. Navigating the challenges and unpredictability of the sea fosters resilience, problem-solving skills, and a strong sense of self-confidence. The lifestyle encourages continuous learning, from mastering sailing and navigational skills to understanding weather patterns and marine ecosystems.

The Cons: The Challenges and Hardships of Liveaboard Life

While the joys of living on a sailboat are plentiful, the lifestyle also comes with its fair share of challenges and hardships. These difficulties test the resilience and adaptability of those who choose this way of life.

– One of the most significant challenges is dealing with bad weather. Storms, high winds, and rough seas can be terrifying and dangerous, requiring skill, experience (which you can only get by …experiencing it), and a calm demeanor to navigate safely (perhaps the trickiest thing to achieve). The stress from poor weather can be mentally draining, disrupt work, and put a strain on relationships.

– The learning curve required to become a confident and comfortable sailor is not small and can take many seasons while mastering sailing can take a lifetime.

– The constant exposure to the elements also means that maintenance is a never-ending task, with saltwater and sun causing wear and tear that must be regularly addressed to keep the boat functional and safe. Especially on an older boat like ours, fixing and maintaining gear and rigging is an endless cycle. Most systems and hardware on the boat are essential, and when they fail, there is often no one around to help. Constantly sorting out jammed anchors, engine or electrical issues can quickly become tiresome and (if you are trying to work) quite disruptive. It can also be quite stressful when critical systems fail.

– Isolation is another aspect of sailboat living that can be challenging. Long periods at sea or anchored in remote locations can lead to feelings of loneliness and disconnection from land-based communities. The confined space of a sailboat can strain relationships, making it essential for the crew, be it a couple, a family, or friends, to communicate effectively and give each other personal space.

– The financial aspect of sailboat living can also be a hardship. Unexpected repairs and maintenance can quickly drain savings, and the cost of mooring, fuel, and supplies can add up. Sailors must be adept at budgeting and often need to be resourceful in finding ways to sustain their lifestyle, which might include picking up temporary jobs or remote work.

– The physical demands of managing a sailboat should not be underestimated. It requires strength, stamina, and a willingness to tackle everything from sail repairs to engine troubleshooting. The learning curve can be steep, and the responsibility of keeping the boat and its occupants safe is a constant pressure.

Despite these challenges, many sailboat dwellers find that the hardships are part of what makes the lifestyle rewarding. Overcoming difficulties and learning to live in harmony with the sea can provide a profound sense of achievement and satisfaction.

Final Thoughts About Life on a Sailboat

Living on a sailboat full-time is a journey that encompasses the full spectrum of human experience, blending moments of sheer joy and beauty with times of challenge and adversity. It’s a lifestyle that demands resilience, adaptability, and a willingness to embrace the unknown. While the romantic allure of sailing the high seas is undeniable, the realities of daily life on a sailboat are grounded in practical challenges and the necessity of continual learning and personal growth.

The decision to live on a sailboat should not be made lightly, as it involves significant changes in lifestyle, mindset, and social dynamics. However, for those who choose to embark on this adventure, it offers unparalleled opportunities for freedom, exploration, and connection with nature. The hardships encountered along the way are not just obstacles but also catalysts for growth, leading to a deeper understanding of oneself and the world.

If you have a question about living on a sailboat full-time, let us know in the comments below or shoot us an email anytime!

Fair winds and following seas!

In 2016, I had been dumped by my girlfriend, fired from my job, and the lease on my house was running out. Facing moving back in with my parents, 26, jobless and alone I decided to listen to the message the universe was trying to send me. I took off on my first solo backpacking trip, with a one-way ticket to Bangkok and a well-thumbed Lonely Planet guide. From there I wandered Southeast and Central Asia, traveled the Great Steppe, and made my way across Russia and throughout Europe.

In Estonia I met Kelli, who, despite having a less frantic travel style, shared my my restless spirit and passion for exploration. Together, we embarked on a new journey, van life. Over four years we travelled across three different continents with three different vans.

In 2022, as the world began to re-open post COVID we took an opportunity to realise a long held dream, to live aboard a sailboat. Since then we have spent two summers in the Mediterranean, sailing and living aboard our little sail boat Whisper. When we aren't sailing we continue to live our nomadic lifestyle, guided by a philosophy of slow travel and self directed adventure be it by van or backpacking.

We find excitement through our journey into the unknown, stillness and content in the beauty of the places we discover and we find ourselves in the vastness of our world.

Hopefully, we can help you find what you're looking for too. Get lost with us and find your own path.

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Sailboat Life

Sailboat Cruising and Lifestyle Magazine.

How to Live on a Sailboat for Beginners

This is a guide for how to live on a sailboat – but be warned, if you have any desire for the liveaboard lifestyle, you might quickly become on of us! Living aboard a sailboat requires an enjoyment of water, being okay with small living, and a sense of adventure. It’s not hard to begin living on a sailboat, but a few tips can help.

Let’s consider a few basic liveaboard questions first:

Is it living on a sailboat a good idea?

Living aboard a sailboat give you freedom that you won’t find in any other lifestyle. A suburban house can not be moved from place to place. But living on a sailboat gives you the options to live anywhere – literally in any country in the world! Living aboard a sailboat offers such a unique feeling of freedom to explore that you won’t find anywhere else.

Is living on a sailboat hard?

It is tough to live on a sailboat in a place like San Francisco where everyone is trying to escape super-high rent. In resort areas, many marinas have years-long waitlists for a liveaboard slip, and these slips cost double than a regular slip. However, not all places, in fact most places are easy to liveaboard.

Are you thinking about living aboard? Well, it takes time, planning, and preparation to being living on a sailboat. Here are a few videos to help you make a few calculations.

Adjusting to Liveaboard Life

Today, Emily sits down with 3 other female friends in the harbor to chat about how they transitioned from being landlubbers to liveaboard sailors in recent years. We’ll let you in on the conversation, and 4 different perspectives (though there are MANY others in the world).

• Emily, 34, aboard Temptress – liveaboard for 5 years
• Kris, 57, aboard Sixth Girl – liveaboard for 1 year
• Meredith, 44, aboard Tla Hla – liveaboard for 3 years
• Hannah, 26, aboard Sojourner – liveaboard for 2 years

How to Afford and Start Living Aboard

Your dream is to become a liveaboard? You want to know more about sailboat life, and what it means to live on a sailboat? You want to know how to afford living on a sailboat and how to afford staying liveaboards? How it feels to daily hoist the sail and follow the wind?

Start Small, Start Now

One philosophy in getting started living aboard a sailboat is to start small, start now. That doesn’t mean you have to buy a major refit project of a sailboat. You can get started in a small 24 foot single cabin boat for less than $10,000 or a mid-size 36 foot sailboat (see video below) for less than $60,000. Or grab a 1980s fixer upper that’s 42 feet in length that costs $25,000 – but beware, a fixer upper is a major expense even when you do it yourself.

Is Living Aboard for You?

No one can answer this question except you. However, if you enjoy freedom, have a sense of adventure, and love the water, then you might enjoy living aboard a sailboat.

We hope you enjoyed this how to guide for life on a sailboat for beginners. Leave us a comment or question a below.

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Throw in your two cents, start a discussion cancel reply, related articles.

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Living on a Boat: Beginner's Guide for Liveaboards

It’s easy to romanticize the idea of living on a boat full-time; however, it's an alternative lifestyle like that takes preparation, organization and an ability to roll with changes. When you commit to moving aboard, make checklists of necessities and talk to your partner about deal-breakers. Prepare the boat for life aboard well before you make the move.

Factors to Consider Before Living Aboard

Before moving onboard your boat, you should ask yourself some questions:

• Is this just for a period of time before you go cruising or is this a lifestyle choice?
• Are you comfortable with repeatedly defending your choice to your friends and family?
• Are you living in a climate that is boat-friendly year-round?
• Are you handy and a good problem solver?
• Who will accept your Amazon deliveries and are you ready to grocery shop frequently since there won’t be room to stow much?
• Are you ready to become your own maid?
• Will you feel comfortable with your kids being in this new environment?
• What’s Plan B if it doesn’t work?

After moving aboard, you may be hauling the laundry to the laundromat or groceries from the parking lot with no dock cart nearby. You’ll need to go to the pump-out station regularly as well as to the post office for your mail. Small doesn’t translate to easy so mentally run through a typical week and write down solutions to the issues.

Essentials: Stowage, Comfort & Connectivity

When you move from a 2,000-square foot house to a 40-foot boat, all the closets are smaller, the cupboards are fewer and there’s no two-car garage. In preparation, you’ll need to de-clutter kitchen gadgets, tools, mementos and clothing. Keep winter clothes in off-boat storage and your business attire at the office if possible.

Make sure the boat is warm and dry with plenty of ventilation. Mildew and condensation will become a part of life and you’ll need a whole new set of cleaners and tools.

Plan your connectivity needs. Whether a dish for TV or high-speed internet access via the marina WiFi, you’ll need a connectivity solution so you’re not cut off from work, friends, family and entertainment.

Beneficial Skills to Have for Living Onboard

Maintenance on a boat may be worse than in a house in terms of frequency and specificity. Basic plumbing, electrical and mechanical skills will be needed because boat systems are generally less reliable than their household counterparts. The alternative is calling a contractor for every issue.

Cost of Living on a Boat

Don’t assume that you’ll save money by moving aboard. Here's some expenses you may incur by living on your boat:

• Boat mortgage payment
• Boat insurance
• Waste management
• Food and water

The best way to manage expenses is by making a budget and sticking to it. Depending on the size and value of the vessel, boat insurance may be just as expensive as house insurance. Property taxes will usually be less as will electricity since you’ll not be heating/cooling/lighting as big a space. You’ll probably save money on waste management, gas and water as well.

Where costs rise dramatically is maintenance . Marine parts and labor are usually more expensive—sometimes 20% more, than typical household counterparts. If you take on the tasks yourself and you’re self-employed, every hour you spend working on your boat is an hour you don’t make money.

Learn More in our Boat Insurance Guide

Safety & Security

You’ll need to decide whether to invite strangers inside, and if kids and pets will be safe around the docks. Install CO2 and smoke alarms and a propane sniffer, check the fire extinguishers periodically, and keep an eye on the basics like bilge and battery levels. You may also want to consider the following:

• Will you be safe walking from the parking lot to the slip at night?
• Will your nice car be okay outside the garage 24/7?
• Who will call you if your boat starts to list when you’re on vacation?

There aren’t really more or fewer safety issues, just different kinds.

Daily Life & Socialization

Socializing is easier in a marina than in a neighborhood. Neighbors help neighbors in marinas but it’s a two-way street so be ready to lend a hand when needed. If you’d rather live anonymously, consider an end tie in the forgotten corner of the marina. Although there are challenges to living on a boat, if you’re prepared, you may find it a perfect fit.

I already have a boat in a slip in a marina, so can I just move aboard?

Most marinas require an application for you to move aboard permanently. In some areas, liveaboards aren’t permitted or there are long waiting lists. Liveaboard slip fees are usually higher and your insurance rates may increase if your boat becomes your primary residence.

How do I live aboard a boat with a pet?

Dogs, cats and other pets need to acclimate to their new environments. They need exercise, private space and easy access to food and a potty. Make sure stairs and docks are safe for them and that they know how to get on the boat or dock if they fall in the water. Be careful of small spaces where they can get trapped and wires they can chew. Teach them about their new environment and be patient.

Learn more in Boating with Pets and Tips for Taking Your Dog Boating .

Read Next: Boat Owner's Guide

Looking for more information on boat ownership? Read...

• Boat Owner's Guide
• Costs of Boat Ownership
• Boat Maintenance Guide
• Insuring Your Boat
• Boat Safety Guide

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Sailboat Living: 10 Things To Know Before Moving On Board

Sailboat living can sound like the dream life, and in many ways it is.

Beautiful sunsets, the freedom to travel with your home, dolphins and crystal clear seas are all a huge part of the sailboat lifestyle , but anyone who tells you it’s an easy life has obviously never really lived on a sailboat!

There are times when sailboat living can feel more like a nightmare than a dream, and no matter how much you prepare there will always be a few troublesome scenarios that you just can’t predict.

However, with a little forethought and a lot of planning, there is a lot you can do to make the transition of moving from a house to a sailboat a relatively easy one.

If you’re prepared to put in the hard work now then we promise you will reap the rewards in the future. As we learnt the hard way, we’ve put together the top 10 things that everyone should know before they move onto a sailboat so that sailboat living for you can be 98% dream and only 2% nightmare!

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#1 A Sailboat Is Never Complete

Learn this lesson fast!

Don’t expect to finish boatyard work and stop working. A sailboat breaks. Constantly. Some days it will feel as though your to-do list is endless because unfortunately, it is.

This was one of the things Adam and I were prepared for before we moved onboard our sailboat. After living on a boat in the UK we understood the crazy amount of work that has to go into maintaining something that’s constantly working.

I think a good way of looking at it would be to think of it as a house and a car combined. It has all the working parts of a house – the pipework, the electricity, the leaky windows etc.

It also has all the working parts of a car like an engine, the tires could be the sails, the lines, and all that goes along with them.

Add to that the fact that you’re putting it under huge amounts of stress at all times, in some extreme weather conditions, and you can see why things constantly fail!

Adam and I spent the first few months of living aboard feeling as though we were just sailing from anchorage to anchorage to find chandlers so we could fix things. We made friends with some full-time cruisers who quickly put a stop to that!

They explained how if we actually wanted to enjoy time on board then we had to give ourselves time off the boat work. The broken things we could live with could wait a few days while we enjoyed a new destination.

Find out how much new sails cost

We now try to only do one or two days of boat work a week, which leaves us with a weekend ‘off’ when we’re working our jobs for three days. This suits us perfectly, but you’ll need to find a pattern that works for you to make sailboat living more enjoyable!

A bonus of living onboard is that you do have the extra time to dedicate to keeping the sailboat in tip-top condition.

Many weekend sailors find themselves with a long list of jobs at the end of the season, but (depending on how cheap/how lucky you get when you buy your boat!) if you get some jobs done every now and again through the season you’ll keep the long stints to a minimum.

#2 Sailboat Living = Tiny Space Living

Think of sailboat living as living in a glorified tent and you’ll be (partly) prepared! There is nothing glamorous about sailboat living!

You’ll be getting changed in tiny spaces where you may or may not be able to stand. You’ll be squeezing into the toilet or squeezing past people to use the kettle. It’s a juggling act, even when all your belongings are stashed away neatly.

Add to that the fact you’ll probably be ripping open cupboards every other day to find that essential item that was placed under all the other essential items and it becomes pretty hard to manage!

Our top tips for managing space onboard your sailboat are to downsize before you move in and to prioritise sailboat storage. It might be a hard thing to do to start with, but you’ll be so thankful you gave up all nonessential items before you even moved aboard.

It’s amazing how quickly you can fill a boat when you live on it! We have loads of handy tips on how to maximise limited space in our post on sailboat storage ideas – check it out before you start sailboat living!

#3 Water, Water, Everywhere But Not A Drop To Wash In

Get used to living frugally. We don’t necessarily mean your finances (though it is possible to live on a budget on a sailboat, check out what we spend monthly here).

Things like water and electricity are limited on a sailboat, especially if you’re spending the majority of your time at anchor.

Unless you have a sailboat watermaker (which we highly recommend splashing out on!) you need to get used to using as little water as possible . It’s not always easy to find when you live on the sea.

Get used to taking sea showers and washing dishes in saltwater. You can always rinse in freshwater, and washing in the sea really isn’t too hard once you’re used to it!

Set your sailboat up with a good way of making electricity as soon as you move aboard. You’ll want decent amounts of solar power and possibly a wind generator too, especially if you’re planning on spending time in countries that don’t see very much sunshine or spending winters at anchor.

You’ll also want to make sure you have a good battery bank for storing it over night, and you may even want to consider getting a small generator if you rely on power for things like charging laptops to work from.

#4 The People You Meet Will Be A True Highlight

The sailing community is what makes sailboat living. They are the most giving and generous community of people we have ever met and the best memories we have are the ones we spent with other cruisers.

It’s not always easy to meet other sailors while you’re living at anchor, so our advice is to make the effort and say hi where ever possible. People are always happy to share a drink or dinner, and a salty tale or two!

Meeting other sailors is also the very best way to learn more about sailing life. No matter how long people have cruised for they always have an experience worth sharing and learning from.

#5 The Weather Controls Your Life In Sailboat Living

We check the weather twice a day, every day. It may seem obvious that the weather is important on a sailboat, but until we moved aboard we didn’t realise quite how much it would affect our lives.

You might be desperate to move the boat and explore somewhere new but find you have no wind to sail. Or you might fall in love with an anchorage and want to stay but be forced to move because of a change in the direction of the wind.

We’ve had to leave beautiful anchorages in the middle of the night because an unpredicted storm had blown through, or been stuck in places we don’t like because the wind has meant it’s the only safe place to be.

The positives of being governed by the weather is that you’re so much more in tune with it. You get up when the sun rises, you notice subtle changes in the temperature and you learn to read the wind and clouds.

Before you move on board you should start checking the weather and anchorages around where you plan on sailing. It makes life easier if you’ve scouted out the best places to be in different weather conditions.

Check things like whether there are safe anchorages for different wind directions or whether you’ll need to use marinas (and how much they’ll be!), and check if there are any ‘bolt holes’ you can use as safe havens in the event of unexpected storms.

You’ll feel more confident and comfortable if you have all this information to hand when you start sailboat living.

#6 Sailboat Living Means Leaving Your Privacy On The Dockside

You’ll be sharing a tiny space with your crew and they will quickly learn literally everything there is to learn about you. And you them.

Before you move onto a sailboat make sure that you’re happy with sharing everything with the people you’re sailing with. I don’t mean you have to tell them about your childhood (though night passages can be pretty dull!) but be prepared to share what you eat, when you toilet, potentially what you throw up.

Expect to be walked in on while you’re changing or showering. Understand that boat toilets break – a lot – so no matter how careful you are you might well end up elbow deep in someone else’s last nights dinner!

#7 Learn To Work As A Team – Quickly

Sailboat living requires a huge amount of team work (unless you’re planning on living alone of course). You need get into a very different mindset when you live and work with the same person or people day in, day out, and when you depend on them (quite literally) to survive.

One of the biggest reasons that people quit at sailboat living is because they fall out with their partners, or call it a day before they do. Sailboat living is hard on relationships, but it can also make your relationship better and stronger if you’re prepared to work at it.

There are lots of things you can do to prepare for this change and I’ve put together a whole range of tips to help you with spending too much time with your partner .

Ultimately, one of the best things you can do is know that this isn’t going to be easy, no matter how strong your relationship is on land. Be prepared for this as a couple, and be prepared to work hard on your relationship when the tough patches come!

#8 Nature Is Incredible

I know, I know, we all know nature is incredible. But sailboat living brings you so much closer to it in so many different ways.

You see things you’d never get a chance to see on land. Every time you jump in the sea you find new sea creatures, either from snorkeling or finding them clinging on to your hull, or washed up on deck.

You see turtles, whales and rays. Birds come to find rest on your boat while you’re on long passages and dolphins swim beside you as you make waves for them to play in.

Then there’s the sunrises and sunsets, and the endless starlit skies. The thunderstorms that you’re suddenly a part of, when before you could hide inside brick walls. The constantly changing sea and sky, and the sun and wind. You become part of it, and you depend on it, and you’re terrified of it.

Sailboat living makes you feel like you’re part of the nature around you rather than just a lucky spectator. It’s certainly changed the way I see the ocean and the weather for the better and I have a new found respect and healthy fear of it’s power and awe.

#9 Prepare For Sleepless Nights

Before we set off cruising full time I had no idea how little sleep I would get. There are so many different things trying their hardest to ruin a good nights sleep on a sailboat.

Firstly, the weather. If it’s windy, you’ll be half awake all night just watching the anchor and wondering if this will be the night it pulls out and you drag into some rocks.

You’ll be waiting for the wind to shift slightly so that you’re no longer protected from the sea. And even if you’re super happy with your anchoring set up, the wind through the halyards makes a very disconcerting noise!

If the weather is calm that doesn’t mean the sea will be. You can never predict whether the anchorage you arrive in will be the rollyest place on the island, so you’ll spend a good few nights just rolling around all over the place trying your hardest to stay in your berth.

Then there’s the heat (or the cold, depending on where you sail). It can be unbearably hot inside a sailboat, so consider buying a decent hammock and sleep under the stars instead.

But if you decide to sleep outside you’re going to want a mosquito net, because those things are FIERCE. Never have I ever experienced so many sleepless nights due to a buzzing in my ears and painful bites all over my legs.

If you can find a comfortable set up with your hammock and mozzie net then sleeping outside on a sailboat is one of the most magical things ever. The stars are brighter than you could ever imagine, and there are shooting stars a plenty. The stillness of a calm night at anchor is one of the very best things about sailboat living.

If you’re sailing with a baby you can expect even less sleep – make sure you’re prepared for that!

#10 Sailboat Living Is More Difficult Than You Could Imagine (But Totally Worth It)

Difficult sounds bad, but that would be inaccurate when describing sailboat living. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done and the best. And part of what makes it the best is that it’s the hardest. Does that make sense?!

Sailboat living can feel like a constant battle at times. You have to trek for an hour to find the gas to light your oven to make a cup of tea in the morning. You then have to go back again because you forgot the tea bags. Things break and need fixing. You can’t sleep because of a storm. You can’t leave the boat for days because the winds up and you’re scared the anchor might pull out.

I think people run away to sea to find freedom, but like everything freedom can be defined in so many different ways.

Sailboat living takes away your freedom of easy access to food and water. It takes away your freedom to step out of your front door into relative safety. At times it even takes away your freedom to run and walk.

What it does give you is freedom from monotony. Freedom from daily routine. It gives you the freedom to travel where you want (if not when you want) and the freedom from material possessions.

It doesn’t matter what you wear on a boat, it doesn’t matter how flashy your boat is or how much you smell! At the end of the day, out on the sea, it’s just you surviving. And in a way, that’s the most free I’ve ever felt.

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15 comments.

I’ll be moving on a sailboat with my girlfriend this (still very new) year and I discovered your blog via Pinterest. We’re also writing weekly blog posts about our journey. Your writing is excellent, and I’d like to follow you on your mailing list. But it seems your form does not work. Fix it maybe? 🙂

Ah that’s strange! I can see people are still signing up, will have a look into that! Thanks for letting me know. Thanks so much for reading along. Where’s your boat? I’m so excited for you – those first few weeks aboard are the best!

I can’t seem to sign up for more. The web page has an error on my Android. Bummer.

Can you please add my email address to your email distribution list?

Thanks, Steve

So glad to come across you guys, finding out as much as we can before we take that leap. We are a couple coming to the end of a army career. The last 2 years will be in Kenya Nanyuki. Posted in June. Then we plan to get the dream sailing boat and travel. I am doing all my home work trying to find out as much as I can before we do this. Looking forward to reading about you both and tasking in everything any thing that we will I’m sure be incredible useful. Thank you Sandy

Sorry for the late reply, I’ve only just noticed your lovely comment. I hope you’re getting further along with your dream – would love to hear about it! If you need more help we’ve put together a huge guidebook detailing everything we’ve learnt, from the very beginning of the journey through to buying the boat and eventually living aboard and making it all work. https://twogetlost.com/guidebook

That’s really nice post. I appreciate your skills. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for the honest truth in this article. Doing all the research possible before following our dreams and in your footsteps 🙌💕⛵⚓

Thanks so much for your kind comment and really pleased we could help! Keep us updated on your journey, you won’t look back!

Wow! I am on a boat reading this while my partner is away for the first time in months, and it made me feel less insane and like there are tools to help us live our dream of minimalist sailboat life.. Thank you so much for your wise words and good tools..

I’m so pleased it helped and excited for you starting this journey! You won’t regret it, and we’d love to hear more when you find the perfect boat and move aboard! If you need more help we’ve put together a huge guidebook detailing everything we’ve learnt, from the very beginning of the journey through to buying the boat and eventually living aboard and making it all work. https://twogetlost.com/guidebook

• Pingback: How To Downsize Your Wardrobe For Boatlife | Two Get Lost

Any suggested reading on preparing your land life (home, insurance, anythin really) for departure. Sell the home or rwnt, thinks like that. Want to start preparjng a year ahead and struggling to make a plan..any blogs ir reading suggestions would be appreciated!

Hello, thanks for reaching out. First off – congratulations! You’re obviously set on your plan to move aboard and it will be amazing (and lots of other things too!!) We actually cover all this in part one of our guidebook. We go through everything we had to consider before moving aboard, things like whether to sell or not to sell, what to do with all your things, even little considerations like what to tell family and friends. We’ve included tick lists for planning the change in lifestyle. You can find it here. https://twogetlost.com/guidebook Part 2 is for after you’ve bought the boat – getting the boat ready for living aboard and all the other things that come along with living at sea. I hope it helps and please do let us know how you get on – perhaps we’ll see you out here soon!

It’s helpful to understand that when living in a sailboat, the weather controls every aspect of our lives. Not long ago, my wife and I decided to invest in a sailboat because we love the sea and nature. We’d like to buy one this year, and maybe in the future, we’ll need to read carefully your advice about living in a vessel.

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The True Cost of Living on a Sailboat: Our Monthly Expenses

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How much does it cost to live on a boat? This was my biggest question when we were planning and saving to cruise. I was clueless when it came to creating a budget for our future life aboard. I was looking for someone to tell me exactly how much it would cost ME to live on a sailboat full-time.

I quickly learned some people cruise for less than $1,000 a month and some for upwards of $10,000 a month. Most are somewhere between.

Not so dissimilar from living on land, different people cruise on all sorts of budgets.

For us, our cost of living on a sailboat isn’t so far from our land-based spending.

Part of this journey was learning to live with less, but we still maintain some creature comforts on the water.

Here is a breakdown of our cost of living on a boat full-time while cruising the US east coast.

Cost to Live on a Sailboat

Average cost of $2,424 per month*

Sailboat Maintenance Expenses

Average cost $1,006.

Maintenance, Parts & Tools ($687)

It’s no surprise boat maintenance is top of the list.

You will continuously be fixing broken things or maintaining things on a sailboat. You will also need different tools, spare parts, cleaners, etc., as you cruise.

There will be months when you won’t need much in the way of tools and parts (especially if you already have a lot of tools and spare parts onboard). Then in one month, you might spend 40% of the annual budget.

We make a strong effort to do most boat projects ourselves.

Shortly after we began cruising, our wallets learned the hard truth of paying people to work on your boat.

Since then, we’ve been our own plumber, mechanic, seamstress, and electrician.

You’ll always be learning. But if you can maintain and fix your vessel, you’ll save boatloads of cash (pun intended, I couldn’t resist).

READ NEXT: Check out our 9 Helpful Things You Need in Your Sailboat Tool Kit .

Insurance ($233).

If you are a newbie cruiser, your boat insurance options will most likely be limited. Insurance was a considerable expense in our first year. In our second year, the cost dropped from 2.8% of the boat’s value to 1.3%. (We now have restricted cruising grounds for July – November.)

Do your research and consider using a broker. Get quotes based on where you’ll be cruising and staying in hurricane season.

Miscellaneous ($86)

The miscellaneous category is everything else boat-related. This includes any small purchases we make for the boat (ex. rug for the salon), our USCG documentation, Amazon Prime membership, etc.

We also have a Boat US membership , which more than pays for itself. We get dockage and fuel discounts often. And, of course, the towing service is priceless when you run aground with only one engine. (What, just me?)

For a modest fee, this membership is a no-brainer for boat owners.

Marinas vs. Anchoring

Average cost $339.

Marina Costs

If you’ve been researching the cost of living on a boat, you know it is more economical to anchor than to dock in a marina slip. We love anchoring out, but it does come with a set of variables that dictate comfort and safety while you’re on the hook. Not to mention, it requires a lot more planning.

Marinas can be expensive, especially in popular cruising areas. Dockage is usually charged per foot, so the bigger the boat, the higher the costs associated with docking fees. However, you can find liveaboard boat marinas with slip fees that are paid monthly.

Many cruisers prefer to dock at a liveaboard marina during hurricane season and save anchoring for cruising season. This allows you to keep your cost per night at marinas down, and your overall costs balance out throughout the year.

READ NEXT: Check out our post on Liveaboard Marinas: Finding the Best One for You .

Anchoring challenges.

Dreaming of our cruising days, I had the idea we would anchor out and rarely pay for marinas.

In reality, that’s not what worked for us out of the gate. Being beginner sailors and newbies to cruising and boats in general – there was an enormous learning curve.

Learning to live this lifestyle is not always easy. And yes, marinas make it easier. Especially when you REALLY need it to be easier.

Anchoring out requires the captain to always be “on”. You must be aware of the weather, wind direction, currents, and tides. You also have to be aware of the boats around you. None of this stops when you leave the boat or when you sleep.

The reality is you need to slowly become more comfortable living on the hook.

With experience, you can build more confidence.

You’ll become more comfortable with boat systems, weather, and making repairs while on the anchor. Conserving power and water becomes more natural, and you learn how to stay warm in the cold and cool off in hot weather. With some practice, you can spend less time (and money) at marinas.

For folks dreaming of this lifestyle, I’m not saying you won’t be able to start living on the anchor immediately. But the stress level accompanying living on the hook will lower with time and experience.

Average Cost $449

Provisions are consistently one of our most significant expenses on the boat.

Anticipating my new life on the water, I knew I wanted to learn more about cooking, baking, and making things from scratch. And since we planned to live on a smaller budget, I also wanted to be conscious of spending on food.

A game I often play with myself is to see how long we can go until the next big provisioning trip.

You might be thinking – that sounds miserable. But we eat pretty darn well most of the time.

We ration veggies and fruits, ensuring we leave the hardiest for last. We start with fresh salads and other raw veggie meals, such as cilantro hummus bowls. As the freshest veggies thin out, we work our way to curries and stir-fries. Then, when the fridge grows empty, we move on to rice and bean dishes, pineapple and jalapeño pizza, and bean tacos with pickled onions and cabbage.

One skillset you develop living on a boat is the ability to eat more sustainably.

Learning to make bread, yogurt, and vegetable broth from scraps is super satisfying.

Spend time learning to make flexible meals. Use a balance of fresh, canned, and dried ingredients. Do this, and you can stretch your provisioning budget without sacrificing flavor.

You can also save money by minimizing disposables, such as paper towels, sandwich bags, plastic wrap, and aluminum foil.

READ NEXT: Check out our ideas for Flexible Meals on a Boat and our Best Zero Waste Swaps for Small Spaces .

Having sundowners is a bit of a staple in the boating community. It’s a common way to meet and greet other boaters in a marina or in an anchorage. Given that, we always like to have a few extra beers onboard or the ingredients for a simple cocktail.

We love good wine, but we managed to find some enjoyable boxed wines. (Bonus, lose the boxes at the dock, and there’s very little trash to contend with.)

When we find a deal, we stock up on beer. Nothing hits the spot like a cold beer after the anchor drops. We even discovered a reasonably priced rum we enjoy. (No boat is complete without rum!)

Expenses here are based on personal taste. For us, it was possible to have more affordable beverages and still enjoy sundowner traditions!

Average Cost $233

As a couple who dined out regularly in our Colorado ski town, it was going to be tough to start cooking three meals a day living aboard.

I read a lot of advice that said, “if you like eating out, you probably won’t stop eating out because you move on a boat.”

There is truth to this. Whenever we are in a place where eating out is convenient, we tend to fall back into old habits.

However, when we dock in remote places or anchor away from shore access, there is less (or no) opportunity to eat out.

Instead, we experiment with different types of food to make meals onboard rewarding.

We still enjoy going out to experience the local cuisine, but it has become a treat instead of how we live.

A great way to cut costs is by dining out for a late lunch rather than dinner or skipping the alcohol. Opting for a refreshing drink on the trampoline while watching the sunset isn’t a bad way to close out a night.

Average Cost $103

Diesel, gas, and propane are three resources you will continuously be aware of while living on a boat.

Here are a few adjustments we make to maximize our fuel efficiency.

• We use our sails. This isn’t easy as new sailors on a big boat. We have slowly become more confident, but it took us months of traveling on the water to start getting comfortable using the sails. We are still learning.
• We don’t put ourselves in a position where we are in a hurry or have a schedule. This almost always leads to running the engines more.
• We run on one engine. We can run one engine instead of two on our catamaran and only lose about 1 – 1.5 knots. On the ICW, we unfurl the jib to improve speed if the wind is right.
• We always make sure to travel at an optimal time for the current. Some areas of the Intercoastal Waterway can have a current that’s pushing 2-3 knots. Choosing a departure time around the current makes a big difference in travel time and fuel efficiency. 
• Heating water with the electric kettle if the engines are running or we are on shore power.
• Using hot water from the engines (when we have it) to get water boiling.
• When cooking pasta, we use a minimal amount of water. We’ll often turn the propane off and let the noodles finish cooking in the hot water.
• Quality cookware makes a big difference. Once brought to a boil, some dishes can finish cooking with the lid on. This is helpful when coming into an anchorage. Often, I’ll kill the propane, and by the time we are anchored, dinner is ready.
• If we plan to make a few trips to shore, we’ll anchor closer to the dinghy dock. This doesn’t always work out, but being conscious of it has helped us stretch our gas budget.
• If it’s a short trip to the dock and we aren’t carrying supplies, we use the kayak. Paddling is free (and fun)!

Average Cost $140

When we were saving for the cruising kitty, we found ways to cut our mobile bill by using data on our home and work WiFi. When we moved aboard, our phone plan became the primary internet source. We quickly realized we would need to rethink our data plan.

There are a lot of options for unlimited data in the US, as well as hotspot data. I recommend having at least unlimited mobile data for research and logistics involved when cruising. If you need to work from the boat, you may also want to invest in an additional mobile service as backup or satellite internet. Starlink is starting to become popular in the boating community.

Our Mobile Plan

While cruising the east coast, we use T-Mobile. With this carrier, we get unlimited data and 40GB of hotspot data each month (20GB per phone). This is on the pricier end, and we have been looking into other options, but we enjoy having the hotspot data. Even after the 40GB, we still have hotspot data at 2G. When we cruise the Bahamas, we are planning to use My Island WiFi service .

Entertainment

Average cost $23.

This category is for consumable entertainment since most other entertainment on the water is free.

Music, movies, and books are popular forms of entertainment onboard. Even when we cut down on spending, we kept a few options that provided these services. Instead of ditching all the monthly streaming apps, we looked hard at our memberships and cut back or found free services to supplement.

• Spotify membership for music (we can download or stream) $11
• Movie library on an external hard drive created before we ditched our DVDs Free
• Hulu (included with Spotify) Free
• Disney Plus (prepaid for three years during a special offer) $4
• Nexflix (included with T-Mobile plan) Free
• Tubi (a free streaming app) Free

Spotify and Audible are great for downloading books and playlists for when you are out of service or on passage. You can also download movies and shows through many streaming apps for playback when you don’t have a signal or are running on a budgeted amount of mobile data. An external hard drive of your favorite movies is also a great source of video entertainment that will never let you down.

Personal Care & Clothing

Average cost $73.

Hair & Skin Care

Go more natural with skin and hair care. Most boats won’t have spare power for hairdryers and straighteners. On top of that, the sun and humidity will destroy makeup.

Start now researching ways to simplify your personal care regimens. It will make the transition abroad much easier.

Tips for Hair & Skin Care

• Get a tinted moisturizer with SPF for your face (I like Raw Elements ), a flexible eye shadow, and waterproof mascara. Opt for reusable makeup remover cloths to cut down on waste.
• Work on a natural look for your hair, and see if you can find a style you can cut yourself. Shampoo and conditioner bars are a great way to save space and are typically made with clean ingredients that won’t harm sea life.
• Opt for a simple personal care routine. The fewer products you use, the more space, time, and money you’ll save.
• We love to use UPF clothing in combination with sunscreen. The more you can cover up, the less sunscreen you’ll need.

For us, this area is where expenses remain similar to land life. There are no unique expenses with health or dental care, although finding healthcare coverage for multiple states can be challenging.

For the lady sailors, I recommend researching ways to have a zero-waste period. A menstrual cup is something I wish I had transitioned to before cruising. It will make your life easier, plus save you money and storage space.

If you can minimize laundry and wash some stuff on board, you can limit the need to find a washing machine.

Tips for Laundry on a Boat

• Wear clothes that are easy to wash and dry and can be worn several times between washes.
• In the summer months, wear UPF synthetics and bathing suits that can be washed by hand. This will also extend their life.
• In the winter months, wear merino wool and dress in layers to get the most wears out of your clothes before washing.
• Save sheets, towels, and bulkier clothing for when you have access to a washing machine. We aim to do machine washing about once a month.

Having a solid system in place for handwashing clothes helps limit our laundry budget. We average $8 per month spent on machines.

We try to buy high-quality clothing that is durable for boat life. Once you’ve created a boat wardrobe that works, you’ll find there is little you will need.

In six months, the only clothing I have purchased is a UPF shawl, a sun hat (to replace one I lost overboard), and a tank top. I previously spent a lot of money on clothes. Now I enjoy dialing in a functional, minimalist wardrobe for living on a boat.

READ NEXT: For more on clothing for boat life, check out What to Wear Sailing and How to Downsize Your Wardrobe .

Average cost $58.

For us, our travel budget for many years has consisted of only credit card membership fees. These help us earn points that pay for our travel.

Booking a flight or rental car without worrying about how it affects the budget is a nice perk in this lifestyle. There are times you need a car to get a project done or to book a last-minute flight to visit family.

We also get an annual travel credit with the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. We use a lot of the credit toward Ubers and Lyfts – great for when grocery stores aren’t within walking distance or you need to make a larger provisioning run.

Getting Started With a Cruising Budget

Here are some final thoughts when creating your future sailboat cruising budget.

• The above expenses are based on actively cruising on our 38-foot catamaran. For us, extended time at the dock is just a redistribution of funds. Maintenance and fuel go down, and marina expenses go up.
• Our maintenance costs are at about 4% of the hull value. Aside from the trampoline, we have not replaced any big-ticket items, so we expect this percentage may increase over the next couple of years.
• If you hope to stretch your cruising kitty, give yourself time to overcome the learning curve. Learning to maintain, operate, cook, and just be on a boat will take time. As you get more experience, your spending habits will improve. Be patient and keep moving forward.
• I highly recommend you continue researching and reading as much as possible about the cost of living on a sailboat. Get perspectives from different cruisers. This will help you create a cruising budget that will be unique to you.

Other Resources

• Gone with the Wynns created a very detailed article and video that breakdowns their cost of living on a boat.
• Sailing Kittiwake also has a great video on the cost of living on a sailboat on a budget .

*Costs not included in this overview are health insurance, taxes, business expenses, and gifts or donations. These expenses are particular to each individual’s situation and so are excluded from this article.

Want more tips on how to get started cruising on a boat?

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Morgan, the founder of The Home That Roams, has been living nomadically for over five years. She began her journey traveling across the U.S. in a motorhome and cruising on a liveaboard sailing catamaran. Currently, she lives full-time in a travel trailer, sharing resources on RV living and boat life to help others downsize their lives and thrive in an alternative lifestyle.

Excellent article. Thank you!

I started getting the urge to return to the sea not long after I got out of the Navy in 1974…. Started out on a 15′ Phantom…. Up to 21′ Keels, up to a 26′ Bristol and finally a 28′ Newport…. You learn alot of tricks of the trade at a working marina… Barter system, I used to go up the mast or anything Aloft in return for favors with anything that I had a problem with …. Had to give up the sailboat when I couldn’t sail it by myself anymore … Looking for a 35′-38′ trawler to live in the Tampa Bay area for the rest of my day…. From the Sea I came, back to sea I will return … Anchor’s Aweigh….

Hi George, it sounds like you have lived and breathed boats for a while! One of my favorite things about a good liveaboard marina is how everyone trades boat maintenance favors and helps each other out. I sure hope you find a good trawler to liveaboard in Tampa – sounds lovely!

Do you use a specific budgeting software or anything to track your transactions? Please share if so

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Living on a Sailboat – Cruiserlife Reality, Pros & Cons Of Boat Life In 2023

What could be more romantic or inspiring than living on a sailboat? Maybe you dream of traveling and “sailing off into the sunset.” Or maybe you dig the sailing lifestyle and are looking to join a community of like-minded people. For some, it has been a lifelong dream. Or perhaps you’ve landed here because you’re out of options, and life on a sailboat sounds cheaper than land-based obligations and a good way to save money.

Table of Contents

The dream of sailboat life, can you live aboard any boat, sail or power.

• Price Range 

Monohull or Catamaran

Dock life or off the grid, living spaces, five reasons boat life is awesome, five reasons why a liveaboard boat can be a bummer, before you do, try life on a sailboat first, sailboat life faqs.

The truth is, many reasons bring people to move onto a sailboat—or any kind of boat. If you’re unfamiliar with boat life, think of boats as floating RVs or campers. They attract all sorts of people, from wealthy travelers to people making ends meet. And just like with RVs, they range from palatial yachts to cramped, dingy things you can’t get away from fast enough.

Buying a sailboat to live on has grown in popularity in recent years and has boomed during the coronavirus era. While the global pandemic certainly slowed world travel, it has pushed more people to work from where ever they like. With unlimited data cell phone plans, you can take your boat nearly anywhere and still be connected with the world.

The first question to ask is, “What sort of boat do you want to live on?” Boats come in every shape and size to suit every boater. As a result, the choices can be overwhelming when you first consider the lifestyle.

All boats represent compromises. The vessel designer made compromises to fit all the things in the boat that they could. There are compromises in performance in favor of more creature comforts, or vice versa. 

Likewise, you’ll make compromises when you purchase a boat. You may find that the vessel of your dreams is out of your budget, so you compromise with a smaller boat or one lacking some features. You may opt for a stout bluewater boat built for ocean crossings. If that’s the case, you will invariably compromise on some liveaboard comforts that cheaper coastal cruisers might offer. 

What the boat needs to have for you to liveaboard is entirely up to you. Is your idea of the liveaboard lifestyle all about downsizing and living simply? Or is living aboard a means to an ends—a way to slowly travel the world comfortably while taking “home” with you? Do you live for the passion of actual sailing, or is sailing just a cheap way to move from place to place?

In other words, before you go boat shopping, you must narrow down your goals for the vessel. Next, we’ll look at some of the features that will make how to live on a sailboat easier, but remember that nothing is mandatory. 

Buying a Sailboat to Live On

If you’re wondering whether or not sailboat life is right for you, start by thinking about what the perfect setup would be like. Chances are you have some preconceived notions of what living on a sailboat is like. And chances are there are ways that it could be like that, but there are also ways that it could be completely different. 

Before you dive too deep into the lifestyle, don’t pigeonhole yourself into looking at only sailboats. There are tons of powerboats that you can get for similar prices as used sailboats. And motorboats have a few advantages over sailboats, especially for living aboard.

The most common types of powerboats you’ll see people living on are trawlers or cabin cruisers. First, the design of these boats means that their hull shape is better able to accommodate living space. They’ve got wide sterns and bigger interiors. They also usually have large windows and a nice view out of the living area, something most sailboats lack. 

The only thing that a powerboat can’t do is sail (obviously), and most people don’t cross oceans in them. But most people who buy sailboats to do those things never actually do them! So again, it all comes back to being honest with yourself about what you want to do with your boat. If you’re after comfortable living space and the ability to travel anywhere along the coast, a trawler should be high on your list.  

Price Range

You can’t go boat shopping (or even dreaming!) without at least some idea of your budget. You can spend anywhere from $1,000 to well over $10 million buying a sailboat. You have to narrow it down a bit!

Here are a few pointers to guide you. If you browse for a boat on Yachtworld , you can get a pretty good idea of a particular make and model’s nominal value. 

These are brokered boats, so the list prices seldom equal the sale price. But it provides a good way to analyze the market. Some will be priced very high because they are newer, have newer upgraded engines, are better maintained, or are otherwise “better.” By eliminating those, you should be able to estimate the average value of a particular make and model. 

You may find listings that look like bargains because they are priced lower. Chances are, these are project boats. Project boats require “elbow grease” or “DIY skills” to restore. A project boat is always a losing proposition because it will usually take many more dollars to get it ship-shape than it would cost to have just bought the kept up boat to begin with. 

Here’s an example. Say you’re shopping for one of the best liveaboard sailboats , like a Catalina 30, and the average price is around $18,000. Then, one day while browsing Craigslist, you see one listed for $5,000. A bargain, right? Well, it should be no surprise that the $5,000 boat “needs a little work.” But what you might not realize is that it probably needs $20,000 or more worth of work (and even that number is if you plan on putting in your own elbow grease).

The moral of this story is pretty simple—plan on paying the average price for a sailboat. Of course, there might be some bargains out there. But generally, if you want a functional, livable boat, it will cost you some cash.

Catamarans are popular choices for liveaboard boaters, especially if you plan on anchoring or traveling a lot. These boats have expansive living spaces that feel much less crowded and claustrophobic than typical boats. Even sail cats ofter raised salons with wrap-around windows and lots of fresh air flowing through.

On the flip side, it can be challenging and expensive to find a dock or repair facility in some parts of the world when you need one. So if you plan to live at a dock on a catamaran, start your search by finding the dock first. Catamarans are too wide to fit in regular slips, so marinas must put them on the limited number of bulkhead or t-head docks they have. 

Catamarans are expensive, and it’s generally not good to stretch your budget when buying a boat. If you do, you’ll have less money in the back to travel or spend on upgrades and repairs. So if the catamaran lifestyle appeals to you, double-check your numbers to ensure you can afford to do it right.

Being a liveaboard boater does not mean you must spend your life tied to a dock. You could travel regularly from your marina home base. Or you could travel and not have a home base. It all depends on how you organize your life and your obligations. 

If you intend to live as off-the-grid as possible, that should be considered when you go boat shopping. Some boats are easy to set up that way, and others are not.

If you spend a lot of time away from docks, you must come up with a plan to get some necessities. Some things are easy, and others are more difficult. You’ll have to answer questions about how you will get electrical power, fresh water, pump outs, fuel, and groceries.

Electrical Power

At a dock, you can plug in with a large extension cord and enjoy unlimited power just like you would in a home. Since all the power arrives through the one big cord, there might be some inconveniences, like you cannot blow dry your hair, make microwave popcorn, and brew coffee all at once. But generally, you’ll have outlets that work and plenty of power to run air conditioners, heaters, cooking appliances, and whatever else. 

Away from the dock and unplugged is another thing entirely. Some boats have generators that will run 24/7 to maintain the same comforts. But generators drink diesel fuel and are noisy and smelly. Most sailors who live off the grid prefer to use solar panels and a large bank of batteries to power what they need. In all but extreme cases, however, this means that some power-intensive conveniences like air conditioning and heaters are not viable options.

Fresh Water

Docks will supply city or well water for use onboard. In some cases, you plug in a hose for unlimited supply, but on most boats, you simply fill up the water tanks whenever you need to. 

Away from the dock, you’ll have to rely on the tanks alone. When they get low, you’ll need to visit a dock to refill them. Any marina will let you fill up, but most boaters combine it with a trip for fuel or a pump out. 

Some boaters catch rainwater and put it in their water tanks. Others carry jerry cans of water from shore in their dinghy. And on ocean-going boats, you can install water-making systems that desalinate seawater and make it potable. 

If water goes in the boat, it must come out, right? It is illegal to dump your toilets overboard in most parts of the world unless you are far offshore. So boats are equipped with a holding tank—the boat equivalent of the RV black water tank.

To empty the tank, you visit a pump out station. This is simply a pump that takes the tank contents and puts them in the local sewage treatment system. It is far more ecologically responsible than dumping it. 

The size of your holding tank is a significant limiting factor on most liveaboard vessels. On average, a 20-gallon tank will last a couple about one week of full-time living aboard. So plan on a weekly trip to the pump out dock. You can just use the marina’s facilities as often as possible if you live at a dock. That will extend your time between pump outs considerably.

Some places have pump out boats that will come to you. This is common in busy mooring fields or anchorages like those found in Florida. Some are provided by marinas, and others are done by local cities or counties. Interested in liveaboard marinas in Florida , visit our guide!

Living aboard doesn’t burn any engine fuel. And it’s usually easy to find gas or diesel fuel docks when traveling.

But you’ll also occasionally need cooking fuel, usually propane. You may also need fuel for your heaters during winter. Boat heaters work on diesel, propane, or solid fuels.

Finally, you’ll need a plan for groceries. For example, if you live at a dock at a marina, you might keep a car there and live like you would if you had an apartment. 

If you don’t have a car or are traveling, you will start looking for grocery stores near marinas. Walking distance becomes important, as do marina loaners cars or Uber.

You can make a lot of upgrades and modifications to make the boat you choose, but it’s not possible to fundamentally change the boat’s characteristics. If you’re thinking about living on a boat full time, you need to consider the living spaces and whether or not you and your family can comfortably live there.

Salon, Cockpit, and Staterooms

You’ll spend most of your time in the larger spaces, like the cockpit and salon. The cockpit is like the outdoor patio, and the salon is like your living room and dining room combined. Do these areas have enough space for everyone to lounge comfortably? What about regular everyday things like reading a book or watching the tv? 

Designers make boats comfortable and safe while boating, but it’s only recently that they’ve emphasized the livability aspect of their designs. As a result, many sailboats have small cockpits that are safe at sea but cramped for day-to-day life. Likewise, settees and lounges might not be engineered for comfort so much as use in rough seas. 

A common complaint that people have about boat life is the shape of the beds. Staterooms on small boats usually have v-berths, vee-shaped cushions in the bow. These can be very difficult to get in and out of, especially for couples. They nearly always involve getting trapped inside and having to climb over your partner to get out. Island berths, which stand in the center of the stateroom and can be accessed on either side, are a great upgrade. 

Galley and Head

And then there are the functional parts of the boat like the kitchen and bath (or the galley and head in boating terms). Kitchens will be much smaller than even efficiency apartments. Expect a simple gas range and small oven at the most. Some boats will have a microwave, but not all. Refrigerators are small, and on sailboats, they are often awkward top-loaders. The biggest problem you’ll find with most boat galleys is a lack of counter space and storage. 

The head is another place to analyze what living aboard would be like. Smaller boats have “wet heads.” That means that if you want to have a shower, you’ll sit on the toilet, and everything will get wet. The opposite of a wet head is a separate shower stall, which is a great upgrade if you are living aboard full time.

Pros and Cons of Life on a Sailboat

So now you’ve got some ideas about what makes up life on a sailboat—or at least a look at the variety and sorts of boats that you can liveaboard. What would make you want to take the plunge, and what would give you pause? Here are a few pros and cons to the liveaboard lifestyle.

Living on a sailboat provides an amount of freedom that people with houses can never know. Don’t like your neighbor? Change slips or move to a new marina. Sick of this town? You and your house can be in another state in a few days.

Not being tied down means you can organize your life to travel more. For example, if you aren’t tied to a local job, you could spend summers staying cool in New England and winters in Florida or The Bahamas. Or if you’re entirely untied, head off into the sunset for the Caribbean or an around the world cruise.

2. More Time On the Water

It only follows that you must like the water if you’re looking at boat life. Many people feel a special connection to nature from being near the sea, be it at the beach or on a boat. Boats provide you with endless million-dollar waterfront views that can change as much as you want to travel. You’ll enjoy your morning coffee with a whole new crowd—pelicans, dolphins, sea turtles, and manatees may be in your backyard every morning. 

3. Romantic, Slow Paced Travel

Even if you don’t cruise, there is a romantic connection to travel in every boat. Arriving in a new town by boat is unlike any other travel experience. Every town looks like the same strip malls and chain stores by car. But by boat, you can see towns like an explorer, viewing each historic waterfront and finding all the best dive bars and cruiser hangouts. 

With the right sailboat, you can travel nearly anywhere in the world. Some people dream of completing a circumnavigation, while others stick to seasonal cruising. Whatever your goal, sailboats might not be the fastest way to travel, but they are certainly the most romantic.

4. Small Space Simple Living

On the one hand, boats and RVs are the mobile equivalents of the tiny house. If the idea of downsizing your possessions and valuing experiences more than material goods appeals to you, living in the small space of a liveaboard boat might be right for you.

It might seem counterintuitive because boats are pretty complex and expensive items. But downsizing is a relative thing, and no matter how fancy the boat is, chances are the people living on it downsized their lives to get there. Boats themselves are complex, but they also prevent you from being burdened by many non-essentials.

5. Sailing Community

Finally, the sailing and boating community is full of interesting and fun people. Everywhere you go, you’ll meet boaters that come from a wide range of backgrounds who have similar interests to your own. The community is supportive and known for fun get-togethers over cocktails or pot-lucks.

1. Difficult to Find Liveaboard Marinas

If your goal is to live on a boat and stay in one place, you might find it’s hard to get a marina or anchorage that suits you. Marinas are businesses, and each one is operated to suit a particular crowd. Some welcome liveaboards while others do not. Sometimes it’s the marina policy, and other times it has to do with local city or state regulations. 

However, if you are traveling on your boat as a cruiser, you have little to worry about. Travelers and voyagers are always welcome, and transient slips at marinas for up to three months are usually readily available. 

2. Small Spaces

Wait, wasn’t “small living” a pro of living on a boat? It was, but it can suck too. Cramped spaces, storage limits, and small living get old and frustrating after a while. No matter how hard you try, you’ll wind up collecting too much stuff that you have no room to store. Downsizing is a process, not a one-time event when you live on a boat. 

And then, there are the problems that stem from sharing a small space with your partner or family. Boats offer very little in terms of private space. Even if you get off the boat everyday and travel, living together so closely for any length of time will test any relationship to the breaking point.

3. Constant Maintenance Costs and Fixing Things

Boats are constantly breaking. They float in an acidic solution 24/7, are subject to constant motion and vibration, and are full of explosive substances and toxic chemicals. Sometimes it seems like they are willfully trying to self-destruct and take you to the bottom of the ocean.

Of particular note regarding crew morale are those ever-constant maintenance issues related to the toilet plumbing. Marine heads stink—but literally (sometimes at least) and figuratively in their design and function. 

Engine problems are also a big concern, primarily for their expense. A new engine can easily cost more than you paid for the entire boat!

Repairs on boats slow down after the first year of ownership once you handle everything the vessel needs. But by then, your time will be full of preventative maintenance tasks to keep it all working well. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

4. It’s Really Very Slow

If you’re buying a boat to travel, you might be shocked at how little traveling you can get done. Boats travel at the whim of the weather, which often means sitting in port and waiting for better conditions. There’s a lot more sitting and waiting than actually sailing. If you’re coming from the land-based road world, this is a stark contrast to hopping in your car and driving off whenever you feel like it. 

Even when you do travel, moving between five and seven miles per hour is slow. What can be done in one day in a car now takes you three to four 24-hour days of constant travel.

5. Sometimes, It’s the Worst

Maybe that’s mellow dramatic, but experienced sailors will understand the sentiment. But sometimes, it just seems like the weather or entire ocean is trying to kill you.

Then, there’s the constant inconvenience of it. Just getting a cold beer out of the fridge might involve clearing the countertop, opening the lid, taking out two top shelves, and leaning down at the very bottom to find the last bottle. Then, there are marina wifi problems, seasickness in rolly anchorages, and boat parts lost in the mail or stuck in customs. 

 Like many choices you make in life, living on a sailboat is not about the boat or the place. It’s all about your attitude. Is it an adventure or a nuisance? Of course, everyone experiences inconveniences once in a while, no matter where they live. But boats make everything seem more dramatic, causing you to doubt your choices at the first signs of discomfort.

It’s hard to describe both the pleasure and the dispair that living on a boat can provide. It’s been said that for every low-low, like a back-flowing toilet, there are high-highs, like the perfect sunset with dolphins dancing just for you. 

From my observations, most people who move aboard give it up after their second or third year. Unfortunately, many don’t make it past year one, which is always the hardest due to the steep learning curve. 

The best advice is to try sailboat life before you buy into it. Charter a boat or take some sailing lessons. Find friends with boats who will take you out and share their stories with you. Do research, go to boat shows, and try it out in any way you can before taking the plunge. And no matter what you do, remember to enjoy and savor the adventure!

Is living on a sailboat worth it?

I think so, and many others do too. But living on a sailboat is not for everyone. Boats range from luxurious yachts to cramped, floating tents. No matter what size boat you choose to live on, there will be times when you doubt that it’s worth it. 

All boats are cramped and uncomfortable at times. Life revolves around the weather, the boat, and staying safe. Sometimes it means getting out of bed at 2 am to move the boat in a storm, and sometimes it means not joining your friends at the beach party because something broke and you need to fix it. 

It’s impossible to answer whether or not living on a sailboat is worth it to you—only you can make that call. This is because sailboats offer not only a way to travel but a way to completely change your life. 

Can you legally live on a boat?

Yes, you absolutely can live on a boat. But depending on where you want to live, it can be challenging to find marinas or anchorages that will allow you to. There is nothing inherently illegal about living aboard a boat, but liveaboards are frowned on by many dockmasters and local governments. However, you can find liveaboard marinas, and many have lovely, welcoming communities of people who love their vessels, the water, and the sailing lifestyle.

Matt has been boating around Florida for over 25 years in everything from small powerboats to large cruising catamarans. He currently lives aboard a 38-foot Cabo Rico sailboat with his wife Lucy and adventure dog Chelsea. Together, they cruise between winters in The Bahamas and summers in the Chesapeake Bay.

13 Best Liveaboard Sailboats (under 30 & 50 ft)

Choosing a boat to live on is a big deal — something you definitely want to get right. There are plenty of options to pick from, which can make the choosing process a bit daunting. So to help you navigate those deep waters (no pun intended), here is an article summarizing the 13 best liveaboard sailboats under 30 and 50 feet.

So what are the 13 best liveaboard sailboats?

Catalina 30, pacific seacraft flicka 20, nonsuch ultra 30, aventura 34, island packet 35, peterson 44, prout snowgoose 37, gulfstar 44, beneteau oceanis 50.

Beautiful lineup, isn't it? Let me explain what makes these so special.

Picking the Right One Matters

Picking a liveaboard sailboat belongs among those kinds of decisions that require months, if not years of research and testing.

It is not like choosing a car - those are more or less the same, and although they vary widely in terms of comfort, feeling, and performance, rarely you would encounter one that wouldn't get you from point A to B reasonably.

The same goes for a house or an apartment. Regardless of if you get a 200 square foot condo or a 30,000 square feet mansion, it will most of the time provide a warm shelter with a shower and a kitchen and a bed, fulfilling its basic functions.

But this is only the case because there is extensive infrastructure in place helping cars and houses. A car can only get you from A to B thanks to roads. A house can only have a shower and a kitchen if it is connected to a grid.

But on a boat, you are on your own.

The sea doesn't adjust its waves for your comfort. If something breaks, there is usually not a repair shop nearby. You aren't always connected to water or electricity. And if you don't like what you see around yourself, it's not like you can just leave.

So a liveaboard boat needs to provide what a house does, what a vehicle does, and more, plus it needs to provide this regardless of if you are docked in a marina or in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. That is a lot to ask, especially if we are talking about boats around 30 or 50 feet.

Fortunately, every single boat on this list is an all-star that ticks all the right boxes. Let's see why.

I know, I hear you, it isn't exciting enough as it doesn't perform that well. Sure. But we are talking about a boat that is supposed to be a house too. So why is it on the list?

This boat has been in production since 1975, which means that it has been extraordinarily well-refined according to the suggestions of thousands of owners. And this manufacturer is known for listening to the sailors' feedback. It is a very popular model, so finding spare parts for it will always be easy. Its famous well thought through the salon, and cabin layout is generous and spacious, so Catalinas are comfortable boats to live on. Plus, the boat has quite a wide beam, great ballast/displacement ratio as well as low sail area/displacement ratio, making it a stiff boat under sail, which adds to stability and comfort.

Good condition MkIII Catalinas can be found for about $35,000, but given the volume of these on the market, you can find a usable one even for around $15,000.

This one is a hero. I'd be hesitant to call such a small boat a comfortable liveaboard if it wasn't for this model. For its size, the interior is very spacious. It is also made for comfort since it seems to be inspired by the aforementioned Catalina 30. In fact, after reading some reviews, I am confident in saying that you will not find a significantly more comfortable 27 footer out there.

It also has a talent very uncommon for liveaboard boats - you can put it on a trailer, which can make your life easier when it comes to certain trips. But most importantly, it is a beauty. Just look at it.

Pricing this boat is a tricky task. You can buy nearly new ones (2015) for around $140,000, but even for $50,000, you can stumble upon models from both the 80s and the 2000s. This means the condition is a big factor, and you gotta inspect your choice well. The good news is that whatever your price in that range, you will find a boat for that money. The bad news is that the cheaper you go, the more effort will the potential repairs take.

I thought the Nor'Sea 27 is gonna be it, but let's push the size limit even more with the 20 foot Flicka, this tiny, towable, but seaworthy beast that accomplished several circumnavigations. Upon entering, you will be amazed at how spacious and equipped with amenities the interior is. Its designer lived on this boat with his partner (who too was a naval architect) for years and cruised all around the world - and what a proof of confidence in his own design that is.

Truth be told, there is a lack of deck space, but underneath it has the comfort and size of a boat a few meters larger, a space you can comfortably live in. Due to its size, it is easy to operate, tow, and sails better than what you would expect from a boat this length.

This boat is incredibly charming, and so its owners rarely sell it. In fact, it has amassed quite a following since it was designed into existence. So expect to spend quite some time searching for one for sale. Once you do find one, it will cost you around $30,000 - $40,000.

This one's a weird one. But because of it, a very spacious one. It is structured as a catboat, that is, with the mast being all the way on the front of the boat, which makes for impressive space below the deck. It has all the necessary amenities, including a shower, so for the liveaboard lifestyle, this boat definitely deserves to make this list.

The single sail catboat design also means it is easy to handle single-handed, which makes for great solitary passages.

Expect to pay around $40,000 to $60,000 for this one.

Though I am trying to keep this list in lower price ranges, I have to put this one in. If you don't mind the price tag of around $170,000, this boat is marketed as the currently cheapest liveaboard catamaran. As previously mentioned, cats offer the most in terms of space, and this model is a brand new one. Thus when it comes to service troubles and costs, you wouldn't pay much. The look is modern, relatively minimalistic and sleek, so for those of you who would like to give the liveaboard lifestyle a go but get cold feet upon seeing boats from the 80s, this is a way to make sure things remain stylish.

The modernity, space, and attention to practicality when it comes to using this as your home, make this a great entry-level liveaboard choice.

Again, this is no performance vehicle. Rather it focuses on the usual cruiser aspects - space, stability, sturdiness, and convenience, which makes it an ideal candidate for your choice when looking for a new floating home. Aside from the spacious interior, this boat also has an unusually large cockpit, great for those lunches on the deck.

As if the designers knew this might be used by the liveaboard people, this boat is easy to handle, which means even under sail, you won't have issues focusing on what you came for in the first place - sea living.

This boat can be found on the market for around $75,000 - $100,000.

The great thing about the Hunter 33 is that it was designed as more of a house than a sailboat. The attention to accommodation details is great here; there is plenty of space for sleeping the owners as well as the occasional visitors, it has a fantastic headroom throughout the boat and one of the most spacious and comfortable dining spaces seen on boats this size.

Food preparation and consumption was probably high on the priority list of the makers; the kitchen has an L shape, which adds to the convenience.

The price spread on these is quite large, with the bottom around $55,000 for the 2004 models and the top around $95,000 for the 2013 models.

This one is for those who don't mind sacrificing luxury for space. If in the middle of the ocean, it makes sense that one would want as much of usable space as possible, so if you are okay with the simplicity that will inevitably come with a system like this, you have found your match.

An undeniable advantage of such a design approach is that the storage space is maximized. Long passages with the need for plenty of room for equipment and provisions won't be a problem here. The simplicity of this boat is not just in terms of design, but even the electrics and plumbing. Thus if something breaks, you will have an easier time fixing it.

This being an older model, you can get your hands on one for around $30,000.

Since we are mostly looking at cheaper boats here, most of them aren't new - in fact, they likely have quite a few years behind them. The build quality is thus important. You want to go for builds that will last. Peterson is known for this, so it's gotta be on the list. As far as this list goes, it is quite a large boat. Moreover, it is one that has been built with spaciousness in mind, both when it comes to living spaces and storage.

A neat thing about this boat is its attention to performance. It isn't a racer; rather, it fits in the performance cruiser category, but they haven't made too many speed-related compromises here.

Peterson 44 can usually be found for $80,000 - $100,000.

There needs to be a catamaran on this list - they are, by definition, more spacious than monohulls, providing a large living area, which is, of course, an attractive characteristic for a liveaboard boat. Especially if they have a solid bridge deck, creating yet more square feet of usable space, which Snowgoose has. Unfortunately, they tend to be costly. While it is easy to recommend a bunch of half a million dollar cats, to make this list more within reach of the average sailor, I've found this beauty that you can get for around $100,000.

Aside from the extra space, this model is a true bluewater cruiser, meaning you won't be limited by its abilities when planning your journeys.

Those of you who had the pleasure of sailing this boat know why it needs to be here. It was built for a liveaboard lifestyle. Its wide body makes for one spacious interior which is well ventilated, (a very important aspect) with a beautiful galley and it has a large aft cabin with a huge bed. It was made with comfort, practicality, and convenience in mind.

Not to sound like a salesman, but believe me when I say this boat is a genuine pleasure to be on. If you want the homey feeling, you don't get much closer than this in this size range.

Expect to pay around $80,000 - $100,000 for this one, though some digging around and 'fixing her up' can knock this number down significantly.

This is another easy choice, space being the reason. Not only does it have an extra-large main cabin and salon with a kitchen, many small Parisian apartments could envy, but it is also very generous in terms of storage space. Stocking up for longer crossings will be a pleasure on this one.

Also, it was built as a racer-cruiser, so you won't be making many compromises in terms of performance, as is often the case with comfortable boats.

All of this comes for a price, though. You might be able to find one for around $100,000 if you put some time into your search and won't mind a bit of travel to see it, but otherwise, the average price is around $130,000.

Let's end this list by stretching the ceiling too with this fifty-footer. It was designed as a holiday cruiser, and it is a popular choice among charter companies. The designers know that there are places in Europe where it is very easy to get a sailing license, so many inexperienced people who don't want to give up the comforts of their home end up on these boats. Oceanis 50 is thus comfortable, spacious, easy to sail, and the attention to accommodation details, amenities, and practicality, is very high.

As such, it is designed to house whole families, so if you live there as a couple, you will have a floating house for yourself, and if kids come, no need to buy a new boat. Even on the deck, this boat is designed for pleasure cruises, so as far as that goes, you will be taken care of. As far as their seaworthiness goes, some consider Beneteau an entry-level holiday brand, and some models are indeed more designed for coastal hopping than large crossings. But that can be fixed with some proper fitting.

If you fancy a new one, you will find yourself paying above the $500,000 mark, but older models start a bit above $100,000. Which is something a person who just sold all their possessions to escape to the sea is more likely to have. Just be a bit careful with boats sold by charter companies. Their previous owners serviced them regularly, but you can be sure the hundreds of sailors that touched the helm weren't necessarily skilled or kind to them.

So there you have it. $15,000 - $50,0000 range, 20 - 50-foot sizes, from cozy towable boats to large sailing houses. A range anybody can choose from to pursue the liveaboard dream. Nothing is stopping you now, so hit the yachtworld.com website and start browsing.

Know though that if you really want to take advantage of the boat market, you might have to travel quite a bit. If you are an American, the strong dollar will make it enticing to look for a boat in European countries without the EUR currency. Or you might find plenty of cheap models in Turkey, for instance. It requires more effort, but in return, it might save you tens of thousands of dollars.

Fair winds!

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What It's Like To Live On A Sailboat

Last Updated by

Daniel Wade

June 15, 2022

Have you ever wondered what living in a sailboat would be like? Well, it may be quite easy to glamorize the idea of living on a sailboat full-time. However, this is a very unique lifestyle that brings forth a mixed bag of adventures and challenges. Although you never really know what each day might bring, living on a sailboat requires a lot of preparation, organizations, and an aptitude to take up whatever the waters throw at you.

Choosing to live on a sailboat is not for everyone. It’s a unique way of life that requires a particular lifestyle that would be a step too far for what most of us are used to. But the fact that you’ve even been thinking about it might well mean that you’re one of the few folks out there who find the oddities of living on a sailboat appealing.

It will, however, require you to change your lifestyle, make a few compromises and living on a sailboat could be splendidly rewarding. There are also a lot of things to consider such as the type of boat you purchase and to where you’ll moor it. You’ll, of course, have to carefully think about leaving your comfortable status quo to live on a sailboat. In essence, living on a sailboat is great and offers a very unique experience but it’s not perfect.

So, what is it like living on a sailboat? Well, let’s find out.

Table of contents

Financing Living on the Water

Unless you have huge sums of money stashed away and you’re completely happy living off it, you’ll have to find ways of financing this lifestyle. While many people might tell you that you’ll have reduced expenses when you decide to live aboard your sailboat, this is far from the truth. In addition to the cost of buying the boat itself, it would be a very wrong move to assume that you’ll be saving money by moving aboard your boat.

Here are some of the expenses that you may have to deal with while living on a sailboat.

• Boat mortgage payment
• Boat insurance
• Food and water
• Waste management
• Boat maintenance

While you should carefully manage these expenses by coming up with a budget and sticking to it, you’ll need to work if you do not have huge sums of money stashed somewhere. You should also keep in mind the boat maintenance will always cost over the roof if you do not have the expertise to do it all by yourself. This is because marine parts and labor is usually more expensive.

Unless you are a millionaire, living on a sailboat would only be perfect if you can work from the boat. Whether you’re self-employed or a freelancer, you’ll need to create time and work to sustain this lifestyle and pay the bills that come with it . In essence, living on a sailboat is not all about wines, grapes, and beautiful sunset as always depicted in the movies. It also involves putting in some hard work to finance and maintain this unique and truly rewarding lifestyle.

The Beauty that Comes with Living on a Sailboat

In today’s life, everything out there seems to be fast-paced, uncompromising, demanding, and even more stressful. It seems almost impossible to take a break from it all, slow down and savor the best that life has on offer. Fortunately, living on a sailboat can offer you some form of sanctuary from the breakneck hassles of everyday life.

In addition to the sense of freedom that it gives you, living on a sailboat brings you close to nature as you’ll get more up close and personal with some of the most amazing creatures in the world while exploring some of the best places on earth. You’ll spend most of your time living next door to whales, dolphins, sharks, tuna and many more. That’s not all; you’ll learn to embrace the best and the worst that Mother Nature has on offer. From the beautiful sunsets and basking on the sun to heavy storms and high winds, these will become normal parts of your life. We must, however, admit that it’s much better than the daily hassles that come with living a typical lifestyle on land.

As such, let’s highlight some pros of living on a sailboat.

It’s a Relaxed Lifestyle – The sense of freedom and the chance to explore some of the best places and things in nature is perhaps one of the main attractions to this thrilling liveaboard lifestyle. Although there may be an endless trickle of things to do while on the boat, this lifestyle is generally casual, laid-back, and of course, independent.

It’s an Active Way of Life – Normally, we always strive to maintain a healthy lifestyle by watching our diets and going to the gym. And given that exercise is an integral part of wellness, you’ll never lack it while out there on the boat. Whether it’s about cleaning or maintaining the boat, there are endless projects when living on a boat. The best part is; you’ll be fixing things, exercising, and staying healthy in glamorous places!

A Deeper Sense of Community and Safety – It would be far-fetched to proclaim that living on a sailboat is very safe, especially if you’re planning to sail or moor in areas that are prone to piracy. However, living on a sailboat is much safer than living on land. This is because there are limited chances of being targeted by crooks, getting involved in road accidents or even being a victim of burglary and such negative vices.

More importantly, boat life is widely associated with boat lovers; a boating community that is willing to share and help one another. While you may not share necessities and become that close, the overall philosophy and approach to this lifestyle remain the same across the board and the sense of togetherness brought about by the love of this unique lifestyle will always be evident.

You’ll Embrace Nature – Whether it’s the sight of a flying dolphin, the beautiful sunset or the melodious sound of swans hovering around your boat, living on a sailboat is one of the best ways to connect and embrace nature. You’ll never lack something to bring a smile on your face. You’ll also have to deal with thunderstorms, high winds, and in some cases, noisy and full-of-life neighbors.

We all love to plan about things although we generally do not stick to the plan. So if you’ve always had difficulty in sticking to the plan, living on a boat could give you a perfect excuse not to stick to one. In most cases, your plans will change due to weather conditions. You may have to wait for days on end to venture out or go to the shore to resupply, especially when the winds are high and there are huge storms.

What does this mean? Living on a sailboat will more often than not mean that you throw most of your plans out of the window. This is part of this unique lifestyle and you’ll get used to it. Again, maintaining routine will become almost impossible and so you’ll learn to let go, make compromises, and feel more stoic about certain things in life that you initially thought you couldn’t do without.

With that in mind, let’s look at some cons of living on a sailboat.

A Slow Pace of Life – Your life aboard will become pretty slow and this can be quite frustrating if you’re used to the fast-paced city life. The projects are many and the chores may take up more time. For instance, going for groceries would mean that you lock up the boat, ensure that the dinghy is ready and then row to the shore just to get to the nearest store!

Bad Weather and Wildlife – Living on a sailboat means that nature plays a huge part in your life and huge storms, heavy rains, and cold nights may sometimes become the order of the day. Additionally, you may have to deal with bugs such as mosquitos, as well as other unwanted visitors such as seabirds.

Lack of Space – Even though living on a sailboat can be perfect for minimalists, it can be challenging for most of us since it would mean that you have to do away with most things that you’ve always needed in your life. This is because a fairly-sized boat will never have as much space as your house and this can be a big issue. You’ll, therefore, not only have to be very tidy but you’ll also have to bring necessities only.

Seasickness could be a thing – Living on a sailboat is perhaps not a good idea if you’re prone to seasickness. You’ll be spending most of your time on the water and so it wouldn’t make any sense to embrace this lifestyle only to become seasick.

Tips for Living on a Sailboat

If you’ve been thinking of living on a sailboat, keep the following tips in mind.

Don’t Buy a Boat that You’re still Going to Fix – Fixing and maintaining boats can be very expensive. As such, avoid buying a boat that still needs to be fixed to work perfectly. This can cost you huge sums of money and may ruin your dream before it even begins.

Get a boat that You can Manage – Unless you’re a billionaire with endless pockets, it’s always advisable to go for a boat that you can easily manage. It’s best to go for a small boat that will not require crew members and huge maintenance costs. Again, smaller boats can perfectly fit in marinas, are easier to handle, and tend to be a lot cheaper.

Look at your slip options – Believe it or not, the cost of renting a boat is often cheaper than the rent of any given house in the coastal area. It’s, however, important that you carry out thorough research and find out whether living on a sailboat is the right lifestyle for you in terms of finances, your work, and your family.

Embrace the minimalist lifestyle – Living on a sailboat means that you’ll only have room for essentials. As much as it seems like a luxurious lifestyle, fairly-size boats have very small spaces. You should, therefore, make sacrifices, become tidy, and embrace the minimalist way of life.

Living on a sailboat is a perfect lifestyle that presents both sides of the coin: the bad and the good. While it is a tremendously rewarding experience that gives you the freedom to explore some of the most exotic places in the world, it has its fair share of challenges. This is a unique lifestyle that’s not meant for all. Well, you’ll have to make some sacrifices, deal with bad weather, while also enjoying the best weather and the best that nature has to offer.

In essence, sail away from the comforts of your home, catch the wind, explore, discover, learn, and you’ll never regret it.

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I've personally had thousands of questions about sailing and sailboats over the years. As I learn and experience sailing, and the community, I share the answers that work and make sense to me, here on Life of Sailing.

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Home » Budget Travel » Boat Life 101: How to Live on a Boat and Travel the World! (2024)

Boat Life 101: How to Live on a Boat and Travel the World! (2024)

Waves lap at the hull of the boat. Your feet are in the glassy water, a glass of rum in your hand, and a glorious sunset in front of you. Of course, the weather is perrrfect .

Just another day in the life of living on a boat.

Surely that’s not all what living on a boat is like though, right? What about the sea monsters ? What about getting shipwrecked and floating for days on end at sea awaiting rescue?

And as if a broke bum can really live on a sailboat. Come on!

Rest assured, greenhorn – I’ve got you.

I went from a baby sailor who almost blew up the boat, to hand steering my way across the Pacific Ocean using the Southern Cross as my bearing. And I did it all with very little cash to my name.

Now I’m here to pass on to you what it’s really like to live on a boat AND how to do it . It’s the how-to-poop, how-to-cook, how-to-sail – and the best places in the world to do it all in. PLUS how exactly you can put a budget on a dream.

Avast! I give you, how to live on a boat and travel the world.

The Broke Backpacker is supported by you . Clicking through our links may earn us a small affiliate commission, and that's what allows us to keep producing free content 🙂 Learn more .

Living on a Boat: What’s it Really Like?

How to live on a boat full time, best places in the world to live on a boat (and when to go) , the cost of living on a sailboat (and how to minimise it) , can you live on a sailboat for free, last tips for living the boat life.

“Indigo, where’s the F**CKING coffee?” 

Yeah, you want to buy a boat. And then you’re going to sail off into the sunset – travelling the world without spending a dime – with twelve babes on one arm and the world’s greatest rum in the other. Oh, it’s going to be so lovely, isn’t it?

Welllllll , I’m not here to burst your bubble, but I am here to give you a wee reality check. 

Living on a boat is not for suckers; it’s not for the impatient; it’s not for the stupid. I realise that many people who suck and are stupid, can and do sail. They give the rest of us a headache – don’t be them. 

If you forget the coffee, the rest of the boat may very well feed you to the sharks. The only shop for the next 200 nautical miles is now a distant speck on the goddamn horizon, after all. 

However, provided there is ample coffee, rum, and good conversation, there is nothing better than living on a boat. No, that is not a cliche.

Life on a sailboat is life at its most .

• The duality of boredom and near-death experiences.
• Harnessing the wind and moving soundlessly across the great blue spectacular.
• Fresh sashimi.
• Deep introspection.
• The oscillating moods of the crew that spread like the flu.
• Long stretches of time with no goddamn Instagram.

A boat becomes a very miniature village, and in this, you can touch on a very primal way of living; one that has been passed down to us from many millions of years of evolution. 

The simplicity is not always poetic. But it will make you appreciate every damn cup of coffee – and isn’t that what life is all about? 

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So here it is folks! The basic and hyperbole-filled how-to of living on a boat.

It’s just three simple things. (Sort of.) And then, the ocean is your oyster.

Hoist those sails and may the wind be ever in your favour.

Boat Life 101: Pooping 

Don’t laugh! Pooping on a boat is your first lesson in how different living on a sailboat is to land life.

You have to think about the consequences of your every action: sustainable travel MATTERS . If it’s a small sailboat, it will likely have a manual pump instead of a flush. You do your business, and then pump, pump, pump. 

And that’s not where it ends. You need to think about where exactly your poop is going. 

It becomes very clear that all drains lead to the ocean. 

Usually, your poops will be going into the boat’s holding tank, but they only hold so much. You need to know the regulations in the national waters of wherever the boat is because you can’t empty the holding tank until you’re far enough away from shore, certain mooring fields, and protected areas… for obvious reasons.  

Now, I would argue you haven’t lived until you’ve dealt with a malfunctioning head (marine toilet). Nothing makes you appreciate modern sewerage systems like the sweet smell of shit. 

Boat Life 101: Cooking + Provisioning 

The consequences of your actions continue here. Even if you are sailing in proximity to shops or markets, the basic fact remains that the shops are on land and your boat is on the water.

That means there is no nipping to the servo for some extra milk that you forgot. You have what you have on the boat, and you make do. 

So yeah, not bringing enough coffee for the passage? A dumb mistake you only make once. 

Living on a sailboat has made me an organised (one might say obsessive, but one would be wrong) motherfucker. I am a HARDCORE list-writer, but you need lists when you live on a sailboat.

WRITE LISTS. And keep them going all the time.

• The food and supplies list.
• The fix-it list for maintenance.
• The visa requirements and beaurcracy list.
• The all-important books to read list .

If you go on an overnight sail and you know there’s food at the next anchorage, then you can get away with forgetting the coffee just this once. If you’re crossing the biggest ocean on Earth, that’s not gonna fly. You need to write a bloody list.  

Also, food sometimes needs to be refrigerated. Refrigerators come with limited space and the frustrating tendency to gain sentience halfway through a passage. With sentience comes a severe attitude and willingness to ruin your food.

All I’m saying is, you gotta plan your meals, know how you’re going to store them, and write lists.

Oh, and it sounds obvious, but while sailing, the boat moves.

Yes, the stove on a boat is on a gimbal which means it swings with the motion of the boat and compensates for the movement. But when King Neptune feels the sailors on board have grown too comfortable, the soup says hello to the floor.

Boat Life 101: How do I sail this thing? 

If you can take a shit and cook a meal while on a sailboat, you’re 90% done. 

Collectively, we humans have been chucking some cloth on a bit of wood to capture the wind since the original discovery of Australia and the Solomon Islands (50 000 – 25 000 years ago).

Over the millennia, the process has become more refined. Now we can sail upwind and tack and all this fancy stuff. But ultimately, with a little patience and a lot of practice, anyone can learn to sail. 

There is a multitude of electronic tools – chart plotters, AIS, GPS, Iridium GO – that help you keep a track of where the hell you are and give you detailed charts about where you want to go.

You can even get the weather sent in a tiny little electronic file via a device like the Iridium GO, even when you’re sailing across the Pacific Ocean . Very handy for avoiding boat-sinking storms!

Putting some sail on a mast and heading off has never sounded so sweet! But if you learn a thing or two about the trade winds , you can make your journey even sweeter.

The trades are these delicious winds that blow reliably from east to west, meaning you can access a reliable source of energy to propel you forward (provided you want to head west).

Trade wind sailing is famous for being fucking chill, with few gnarly storms and not too many becalmed days of boredom. The merchants of the tall ship days and the modern boat bum circumnavigating the globe both love the trade winds. Yes, for the easy sailing, and also for the good rum found at many of the ports along the way. 

But when all else fails – say if your mast is struck by lightning and all your electronics are fried – there are still ways to orientate yourself on the big blue. These are methods that have evolved over our collective sailing history:

• Celestial (star) navigation : Using the constellations and a sextant, plus some maths, to figure out the boats latitude and longitude.
• Cloud navigation : Recognising the flat bottomed clouds associated with land to keep you on track back to terra firma.
• Reading the swell : This is just fascinating. This means understanding the persistent swell that move across world oceans and their relation to the star quadrants to estimate where your boat is and where it is going.

Test the Waters BEFORE You Sail – The Liveaboard Experience!

Another way you can get a taste of the boat life before you commit to a lifelong project is to charter a boat! Sailo does just that: Sailo lets you rent the boat life.

You get a boat, a sampler of the experience of living on a sailboat, and people on deck that actually know what the bloody hell they’re doing! With over 30,000(!) boats to charter from and a fabulous selection of the BEST places to live on a boat around, you’re guaranteed to find something that… floats your boat.

Sure, it’s not the no-frills boatbum style, but ultimately, you can choose to do it bareboat – with no captain and you bring all your own provisions. Or you can choose to have the boat crewed so you can sit back, relax and, learn a thing or two about boat life. (And drink champagne.)

Living on a boat comes with a host of challenges (and juicy rewards) that are made that much easier by picking a good place to do it in.

Access to quality boatyards, provisioning, internet connection – these are all big plusses for those living on a sailboat!

But also, all the stuff that made you want to partake in this mad boat lifestyle in the first place rate highly too. A plethora of remote beaches, magic sunsets, and a friendly cruising community of cool travel buddies (soon to become treasured friends) can make or break a dream destination.

I’ve also considered how easy it is to top up the cruising kitty with funds by rating how easy it is to find work in each place.

Australia + New Zealand 

• When to go: November – May (NZ & southern Australia) April – September (northern Australia)
• Best suited liquor: EMU BITTER MAAAATE Whatever the Australians aren’t drinking.

I don’t care that the citizens of both these fine nations will be after me with pitchforks for lumping them in the same pile. Honestly, mate, bro, whatever, come at me. They’re both equally dope places to liveaboard your sailboat.

Yup, gonna say it right now, both these places can be expensive for the boat bum. But they also provide good-paying work opportunities if you can play the visa game right. So they are great places to slow down, pick up a travel job , and stack some cash for future ocean adventures.

You can also take a break from the boat life, and go on an epic backpacking adventure around New Zealand . You won’t know how much you miss the ocean until you take a break from her, trust me.

Also, the sheer diversity that I’ve so callously dumped in one heading is incredible.

Honestly, you can sail down to Stewart Island in the subantarctic waters and then back up to the Eden on Earth in the equatorial Torres Strait .

You could spend a whole, wonderful lifetime sailing between these two continents and still die regretting not having seen everything.

The long and the short of it:

• You can make bank here $$$!
• You can get your boat fixed properly here. Island nations like Australia and New Zealand have a wealth of boat building and fixing experience.
• There are well stocked supermarkets here, so you can stock up on bulk items that prove tricky to find in more remote locations.
• People are cool, remote beaches are cooler. And there is a metric shitton of incredible beaches here.
• There’s also an opportunity for non-boat adventures (like backpacking around Australia ) that will make you appreciate the ocean nomad life even more.
• Diversity! Of landscape and cultures.
• Dude, the first nations of Australia managed to cross over from Papua New Guinea (probably) 60 000 years ago. SIXTY THOUSAND (louder for those in the back). The knowledge on this ancient continent will humble you if you pause to listen.
• And the seafarers that made it to Aotearoa? The Maori are some of the most badass, friendly, wise, creative, HILARIOUS people you will ever have the privilege of meeting.
• $7 bottles of wine. Sorry. But like, yes please.
• There’s epic diving in New Zealand and all over Australia with endless (and scrumptious!) spearfishing opportunities.
• Living on your boat here is easy . Not without its struggles of course, but it’s always easier to struggle close to wifi connection.

The Caribbean

• When to go: The conventional advice says December – May, but you can sail here year-round if you know how to dodge hurricanes.
• Best suited liquor: Rum. Obviously rum. Maybe with a squeeze of lemon and a splash of cola.

If you can dodge the hangouts of the rich and the famous (or work out how to make money off them) sailing the Caribbean and living on a sailboat is very rewarding.

Salsa lessons in the streets of Puerto Rico , rum-soaked nights in the Virgin Islands , goat hunting, spearfishing , azure waters, and white sand beaches all the way down to Bonaire .

Getting into the charter boat game provides a great way to make dat money. During the high season, this is one of the most popular places in the world to charter a boat.

If you are happy to do your own boat repairs, a lot of fishing, and get clever with your travel budget , the cost of living in the Caribbean is not super expensive either. You just gotta know where to go for what.

Cheap coffee and rum can be brought in bulk in the Dominican Republic . There’s a Costco not far away in Puerto Rico , so you can get some bulk toilet paper. Then it’s onwards to a deserted island, a reef, and some endless fun in the sun.

• Cheap boat repairs are available in places like Rio Dulce, Guatemala. So, for those big projects you can save quite a bit of money by getting them done here.
• The rum. I mean, it has truly been perfected here.
• There are oodles of work opportunities in the charter business or in the superyacht world.
• Cheap flights back to the USA means you can feasibly travel between the USA and El Caribe guaranteeing you an endless summer.
• The glorious azure waters and their 27-degree celsius temperatures. Helllloo, nude night diving.
• Warm, deliciously WARM, diving.
• More people at the anchorages = a very social and welcoming community of cruisers. There is a great liveaboard culture that’s hard to replicate elsewhere.
• Easy trade wind sailing.
• Did I mention the rum?

The South Pacific

• When to go: May – October (You can arrive in the Marquesas in April with no problems.)
• Best suited liquor: A little vodka, a lotta soda, a squeeze of lime.

I won’t even try to hide my bias. I LOVE the Pacific.

Is it the best place to live on a sailboat for most people? Probably not. Because the distances between your boat and a grocery store are usually mind-boggling. It can be expensive. It can be lonely.

There’s just no way quite like travelling to places like French Polynesia the way you can on a boat. Out in the middle of the ocean life is not always easy, even if it is full of palm trees. 

But fuck it, I love the Pacific, so we’re including it. 

No, honestly, if you can mitigate the challenge of distance, you are rewarded with the best planet Earth has to offer. Incredible diving, a slow pace of life, some world-class hiking trails (and world-class peaks), lazy sunshiney afternoons. Perfect postcard sunsets. Mmmmm.

A full one-third of the globe is consumed by the Pacific Ocean, and scattered throughout this utter vastness are innumerable tiny little islands. Luckily for the bum of the seas, the trade winds can carry you from the Americas to these little flecks with few problems.

In fact, all the technical sailing here is relatively easy. As long as you don’t get becalmed at the equator thanks to the weirdness of the ITCZ band, it is easy sailing.

But you’re going to need a water maker and have a solid solar panel set up for power. Because between Panama and the Marquesas , there are approximately 3800 nautical miles – more if you go stop in at the Galapagos.

That’s a long way between places to buy coffee. And there’s not much in the way of supermarkets until you get to Tahiti , another 800 nautical miles away.

If you leave IndigoRadio on for long enough, inevitably Kiribati will come up. You can hide from hurricanes here. The South Pacific is defined by island life at an island tempo:

• You can get delicious fish on the end of your gidji real fast here.
• People-less anchorages.
• Dreamy atolls.
• And not a damn supermarket in sight.

Ok, not everyone’s idea of easy sailing, but certainly my idea of the best that living on a boat has to offer.

There is a multitude of lifetimes that could be spent escaping the rat race and kicking back in the Pacific. There is an awesome amount of diversity of landscapes and cultures here too, not to mention a proud seafaring tradition that we aspiring boat bums should shut up and learn from. 

A Tip From One Pirate to Another

Okiedokie, you wild little circumnavigator-to-be! There are multiple ways to criss cross the globe. Resources like noonsite.com and Jimmy Cornell’s cruising guides will be invaluable to you in the planning  and execution stages of your journey.

But at a glance : I would suggest starting in Europe and the mediterranean and picking up the trade winds west across the Atlantic in this order:

• Through the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal.
• Onwards across the South Pacific, kissing New Zealand and Australia before either…
• Circling through South East Asia and back across the Northern Pacific…
• OR continuing up past Sri Lanka then…
• Around the Cape of Good Hope before…
• Going back across the Atlantic and the northern coast of the USA and back home!

Use the trade winds to your advantage! Go west until you can go west no longer.

Things go wrong on the road ALL THE TIME. Be prepared for what life throws at you.

Buy an AMK Travel Medical Kit before you head out on your next adventure – don’t be daft!

No sugar coating here. Buying and maintaining a sailboat, no matter how much it resembles a tin can, adds up real fast. 

But when the eternal sunshine and the lessons of the great blue spectacular call you – when King Neptune drafts you into his eternal service – it’s time to find a will and a way. 

Here are a few tips to help you plan a trip that I’ve picked up from my short time making various vessels my temporary abodes: 

• Don’t buy a project boat unless you want a project.  It will cost you more to fix everything on a broken boat than it will to buy a boat that’s good to go.
• But, when you do need to repair, DIY. Endless learning, yay! Or, plan your sailing route to include time in places like the Rio Dulce where repairs are cheaper.
• Anchor more often than you stay in marinas.  Marinas are devilishly expensive; anchoring is deliciously free.
• Volunteer on someone else’s boat before you get your own. 😉 If done right, this is win-win. You can take share in the labour of running a boat (for example by standing night watch) while learning the finer points of sailing from a master.
• Get seasonal work. There are so many options when it comes to this, from ‘backpacker’ staples like agriculture and hospitality to working on superyachts or as dive instructors.
• Or have residual or passive income if you’re real cool. If you’re on that elusive property ladder or earning money online , why don’t you have a boat? Just head off now and live off your automatic wealth. Be a cool kid.

Of course, when a backpacker asks about the cost of living on a sailboat, they really want to know if you can live on a sailboat for free. When a family looking to take a sabbatical asks about the cost of living, they just want to know hard numbers and a budget breakdown.

At the end of the day, you can hoist a heavily patched sail on a jerry-rigged mast and work on the boat yourself, and eat only what you catch or grow. At the other end, you can set sail on a superyacht replete with full-time staff and jetskis.

We anchor in the same sand and watch the same sunset though, so you choose what you need to spend.

I would suggest being honest about your lifestyle. Consider being a little obsessive organised about your annual costs. Because costs are going to vary greatly from boat to boat.

How Much Does it Cost to Live on a Boat? (Pricing Breakdown!)

Obviously, the variables that go into the cost of running a liveaboard boat are vastly dependent on your style of living and where in the world you are sailing.

Generally speaking, it is cheaper to spend more time at anchor and in countries with a lower cost of living. However, insurance will still be 1% – 2% of the cost of your boat and port fees are port fees. Still gotta pay ’em, whether you’re a broke bum or a gazillionaire.

Sailing and Diving Go Together Like… Sailing and Diving!

A way to combine two of the best things on Earth is to indulge in a liveaboard experience .

This is exactly what it sounds like – you live aboard a boat, usually in some fantastic and tropical destination. You can indulge in some wonderous diving, and pick the brains of the crew about their tips on living aboard a vessel!

The focus of the liveaboards is the epic diving experiences in destinations that just aren’t as accessible when travelling in other ways. Also, it’s a great inspiration for you to hustle your way onto your own boat so that diving amongst reef sharks becomes as normal as your morning coffee.

Now the controversial stuff.

I’ve had someone say, a little tongue in cheek: damn yachties get the wind for free and now they want everything else for free!

While I think being resourceful and a bargain hunter is the best way to live your life, boat or no boat, it’s just as important to have a bitta respect. So when you hit the seas or the road, I don’t see the point in haggling hard over what amounts to 50 cents.

When it comes to boat stuff, in particular, break it down into your shelter, food, and fuel, and don’t aim to get everything for free .

Aim to sustain your lifestyle for as long as possible in a way that doesn’t compromise it for everyone else. In other words, be ethical about your damn budget travel. The most rewarding consequence of trying to keep costs down is creating a more or less self-sustaining yacht. Better for you and your personal growth; better for this pale blue dot we call home.

Sailboat Cost Cutter #1: Shelter 

Maintaining your shelter (i.e. your boat) is not going to be a ‘free’ exercise. You will pay with money, or your own labour and time, to maintain it. 

It will be an exercise in learning all kinds of systems – both mechanical and electrical – and time management. Do you want to pay for that task with money or your labour? Whatever you land on for each maintenance task that inevitably comes up, you will learn that to sustain this boat bum lifestyle you just gotta take care of your wee home and she will take care of you. 

It is always free to sleep on your boat while underway. Well, it doesn’t cost any money anyway. You are investing a lot of time and energy into the passage, but you’re not paying to sleep on your boat!

Once you arrive, you can choose to stay in a marina, on a mooring, or at anchor. Anchoring will always be the cheapest (usually free) and so you don’t have to spend a lot to live in paradise. But don’t be a dick.  

• Have the right visa.
• Be respectful of others in the anchorage.
• Don’t dump shit (literal or otherwise) overboard unless you are sure you’re allowed to.
• Be friendly and offer your neighbours a hand if they need one.

This lifestyle can bring out the best in us provided we’re responsible travellers , so lean into that. 

Sailboat Cost Cutter #2: Fuel

As my friend said, damn yachties get the wind for free! Much of the energy needed to go from A to B is yours for the taking, provided you can harness it efficiently with your sails. But as with DIY vs paying for repairs, sometimes you pay just as dearly with your time as you would have with your money. 

If you are becalmed, the engine may be just the thing to help you out. When coming into a marina, you’re not going to want to be under sail. Likewise, in a storm, it is time to put the sail away and turn on the engine for stability. So having a little diesel onboard is necessary.  

Compared to land life, people living on a boat can minimise their carbon footprint and live very simply. But it’s difficult to ask the Earth for none of its resources. Just be mindful about the way you live, be eco-friendly , and try your best to not waste resources. 

You can recharge your boat batteries for electronics with the sun though – provided you can harness it with solar panels. And a lot of liveaboards will have a wind turbine for extra power on the less sunny days. This stops you from needing to use the engine so much. Yay for money, yay for the environment. 

It’s never going to be completely free. You either pay with time or money. But you can certainly save a lot of money on fuel while living on a boat. This is a rewarding way to sustain your lifestyle and be kinder to the planet. 

Sailboat Cost Cutter #3: Food

I apply the same principles to food as I do to food and shelter: you pay with money or you pay with time and labour. Also, don’t be a dick, and be good to the environment. What comes around goes around. 

This means, when it’s available, I will spearfish and I will hunt. This is me paying for my food with my time and labour rather than money. But I would also argue that it’s fulfilling my other principles of:

• Not being a dick and…
• Being good to the planet. 

Hear me out: I think vegans and hunters alike would agree that factory farming and the industrial scale of meat production are fucked up. It’s a waste of our water, arable land, and produces poorer quality meat. Furthermore, the animals suffer tremendously. 

But if I’m kicking it in Kiribati, there is no way I’m going to be a vegetarian and still believe I’m doing a solid for the planet. The carbon footprint required to get my strictly vegetarian tofu to the remote islands is greater than the carbon footprint of me harvesting a fish every few days. 

That fish has swum about its whole life having a good time doing cool fish stuff. And then, like all of us will, it died. I have immense gratitude toward this being for providing me with sustenance. I feel like I am part of a cycle of life that predates my puny existence. 

In the same vein, to bring tofu to the Caribbean has required a process that is on the whole less ethical than going for a shoot and getting a feral goat for dinner.

The land cleared to grow the soybeans + the production of soybeans into tofu + the carbon cost of flying the tofu product into the island = YIKES.

The feral goats that destabilize delicate island ecosystems? They had a good goat-y life and then they became a good goat-y curry that fed 12 people. 

Ok, I’m done. Eat meat or don’t; ethical animal tourism and all that jazz, however, morality is complicated. There are ways to reduce the money you spend on food and your carbon footprint without being a dick.

I’d also say that in the process of harvesting your own food, you gain a greater appreciation for life on this planet. And get a sense of urgency around stepping up to protect it.  Give it a try; you might be surprised.

Epic Tips for Broke Boatpackers

• Know your knots. Apart from knots being fascinating in their own right (knots were probably invented alongside stone tools?! ), they are the foundation of boat life. Knowing a couple of basics , like a bowline, will give you a good leg up when joining a boat. 
• Be able to cook at least two decent meals, also be clean. You aren’t only working, but living on this boat with someone. Take care of your space and bring some good food to the table and you will go a long way as a crew member. 
• Go to docks and ask around. This is a good way to meet people – even if you just end up crew for a day sail. Be friendly, make yourself known, and find you’ll find yourself on a boat in no time. 
• Facebook can be your friend. When walking the docks fails, there is a multitude of Facebook and other social media groups dedicated to connecting wannabe crew with boats!
• Know how to write about yourself on your Facebook adverts. But you’ve got to know how to sell yourself! If you can cook a bomb-ass puttanesca and can tie a reef knot – mention it! Don’t sell yourself short! That being said, don’t exaggerate and tell fibs about the sailing experience you (don’t) have. The truth will come out painfully during the first bit of real sailing you do, so be honest. There’s usually captains willing to teach the basics for a bit of company and a good meal. 
• Knowing how to fillet a fish is handy. Sailors know how to sail. They don’t necessarily know how to fish. So if you can bring this skill to the table, you’re going to be a beloved crew member in no time!

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Single-use plastic bottles are a MASSIVE threat to marine life. Be a part of the solution and travel with a filter water bottle. Save money and the environment!

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Sweet, glorious tips from a pro-pirate to a soon-to-be, the seas are calling, so go sail them!

Stay Safe, Boat Bums!

One thing that many intrepid little sailors are not good at? Estimating danger and the likelihood of death.

Maybe this is a good thing because you do have to be the right sort of mad to get into a sailboat and cross an ocean.

Maybe, just maybe, you should consider purchasing travel insurance before shit hits the fan though. But enough from me, hear it from a fellow adventurer.

ALWAYS sort out your backpacker insurance before your trip. There’s plenty to choose from in that department, but a good place to start is Safety Wing .

They offer month-to-month payments, no lock-in contracts, and require absolutely no itineraries: that’s the exact kind of insurance long-term travellers and digital nomads need.

SafetyWing is cheap, easy, and admin-free: just sign up lickety-split so you can get back to it!

Click the button below to learn more about SafetyWing’s setup or read our insider review for the full tasty scoop.

FAQs About Life on a Boat

Here’s what I know you want to know about living on a boat!

What is the cheapest place in the world to live on a boat?

This will depend on your spending habits, of course. If you give yourself a budget of $3000 per month, you will spend $3000 per month. That being said, travelling around Southeast Asia and South America is an exquisite choice. They have superb cruising and a low cost of living. The Philippines stands out as a paradise to explore while on a budget.

Can you live on a boat in a marina?

You absolutely can! Now, call me biased, but the point of living on a boat is to go adventuring so I’d keep marina stays  strategic . Only stay as long as it takes to get repaired, or get provisions, and then take off into the sunset!

Can I sail around the world?

It doesn’t take much to put the sails out and follow a bearing. It also doesn’t take much to lose your mast in a surprise squall. Of course, you can sail a boat around the world, but you need to be organised. Provisions, finances, weather. The trip of a lifetime is not for the faint-hearted. Not that that should stop the intrepid adventurer!

SOMETHING REALLY IMPORTANT NOT TO FORGET

Follow instructions and ACTUALLY LISTEN. Put that ego aside, mate. The Captain ALWAYS has the final say, and if they say duck, you DUCK. The boat life can be real unforgiving. Oh, and learn how to handle your rum! It’s a pirate’s life and, well, nobody wants to be at sea with  that guy…

Do sea monsters really exist?

Oh yes. Without a doubt. You just won’t meet the monster until you’ve been at sea for more than 25 days straight. The crew are tired of each other. The boat keeps breaking. There’s a storm on the horizon. It’s night watch again and the clouds are hiding the stars. You wonder if your mother is worried for you and when you might be able to call her again. Briefly, you lean over the side of the boat and wonder what it would be like to just walk off. Would you sink or swim? The sea monsters don’t live in the sea.

Fair Winds, Sailor!

Living on a boat will challenge you.

There is no other lifestyle that forces you to be attuned to weather patterns, engine maintenance, personal dynamics, ethical dilemmas at every mealtime; to consider watermakers and wind turbines; to completely surrender while also stepping up and getting shit done. 

The nitty-gritty of how to live on a sailboat will not be fully revealed to you until you step onto one and do it. But, if you can poop and provision you’re halfway there! 

You gotta lick your finger and hold it up to the wind. Ah yes, the trades blow west. Rum and a seriously sexy sunset await.

Made it this far? You get 15% OFF to book a place to stay ! Offer valid exclusively for Broke Backpackers 😉

Indigo Blue

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I truly enjoyed this read. I am under a government contract for the next while, but have a plan to retire and become a full timer somewhere warmer than Canada. I have been making my own notes and your writing gave me plenty more tips. Please feel free to email and keep me in the loop. Thanks so much and happy sailing!

Amazing read, thank you so much! I’m planning to get on with my own boat living dream and was curious if you (and fellow readers ) could share your thoughts on some of the big issues of boat living you have experienced? Much obliged 🙂 Keep up the good work!

First of all, welcome to the boat life! Biggest issues: Realistically the biggest issue is usually finances. The ocean is constantly wearing away at your boat and trying to sink it. Buying and maintaining a boat is expensive. That’s why so many boat lifers end up in the charter or delivery business – either as crew or as owner/operators – because it pays well.

Once you have your cruising kitty sorted, the next biggest issue is crew dynamics. Sailing alone is demanding, lonely, enthralling, and incredible all at once. Having crew on board and stepping up as captain is a trip in itself. Managing a team is always challenging – let alone when your team lives on a tiny sailboat and is constantly fighting the elements and can never take a break from each other.

The actual sailing and reading of the weather – that stuff becomes easy! This is why you should make yourself stop every so often and remind yourself how wild and wonderful it is that you’re getting around using the freaking wind! Also, the stars, man. If there’s one reason I’d cross the Pacific again for, it’s the stars.

Good luck and fair winds!

That is a f*cking great 101 boat guide! ahah Thank you Indigo for it and welcome to the writer’s team 🙂

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